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ALIFORNIA 



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IMPORTANT ESSAYS, DISCUSSIONS, REPORTS, ETC. 

— AT THE — 

Piftr} Wnnual Oonvention of ©alifornia Pruit tf rowers, 
Held under the Auspices of the State Board of Horticulture, 

— IN- 

LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER, 1885. 



Practical Information on t[)e growtl;) of i\)e Branae, Lemon, Fia, 
Apple, Plum, Peacb, Pear, Apricot, etc.tl^e destruc- 
tion of Insect Pests, and otl^er matters 
offectmn tpe Fruit Industry. 



OFFICIAL REPORT: 

Reported by A. K. Whitton, Stenographer, and furnished to the publishers by authority 
of the State Board of Horticulture. 



Published by DEWEY & CO, 
Proprietors " Pacific Rural Press. 
San Francisco, Cal., 
1886. 



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Horticultural Books. 

Issued by DEWEY & CO., Publishers of the Pacific Rural Press 

CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWER.— A practical Hand-book for the orchardist (in preparation). 

CATALOGUE OF EUROPEAN VINES— With synonyms and brief descriptions, by I. Bleasdale, 
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REPORT OF FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1885, postpaid, 25 ct«. 

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The Caifornia Fruit Grower. 



For California. 

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A manual of methods and practices in Tree Prop- 
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I 






FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



The convention met in the Grand Opera 
House, Los Angeles, atlO A. M., Tuesday, No- 
vember 17, 1885. EUwood Cooper, President 
of the State Board of Horticulture, presided. 
A. H. Webb, Secretary of the State Board of 
Horticulture, was assisted by E. J. Wickson, 
Secretary of the State Horticultural Society. 

Upon calling the convention to order Presi- 
dent Cooper announced that Mr. Stephen M. 
White, who had been chosen by the Los An- 
geles citizens' committee to welcome the dele- 
gates to the city would deliver his address at the 
afternoon session. President Cooper then de- 
livered his opening address as follows: 

President Cooper's Address. 

By reason of the position which I hold, as 
President of the State Board of Horticulture, it 
is expected of me to deliver an address on this 
occasion, and to mark out or submit a plan to 
govern our exercises at this convention, to point 
out the subjects of greatest importance, and 
the manner of discussion, so as to facilitate our 
work. 

This will be the Fifth Annual Fruit-Growers' 
Convention held in this State. The law creat- 
ing the State Board of Horticulture as it for- 
merly stood did not authorize the incurring of 
any expenses for such purposes. Voluntary 
contributions were necessary to meet the out- 
lay. Each convention had a separate and inde- 
pendent organization and adiourned sine die. 
While, as I said before, it is the fifth, it is the 
first over which the State Board assumes the 
control and that will have continuous organiz- 
ation. A complete record will be kept, and 
our office, the seat of information on every 
question that arises, will be accessible to all the 
fruit-growers in the State. The plan for our 
next annual convention, to be held in '86, will 
be determined here, so that much more possi- 
bly can be done at future gatherings than can 
be accomplished now. 

Before submitting my plan, however, I will 
make a few introductory remarks on the sub- 
ject of 

Horticulture. 

To quote from a lecture delivered by Baron 
Ferd. Von Mueller, in November, 1880, at the 



request of the Social Science Congress, of Mel- 
bourne, he said : "While Science is to shed 
light on the path of instructive progress to lead 
to the development of natural resources; Art to 
mold and refine aesthetics to react on the tone 
of social and domestic life; Literature a guiding 
influence on the progress of the times, on the 
welfare of the State; Economy to advance 
mutually the interests of the whole population 
— it is left to our gathering to advocate the vast 
interests involved in horticultural pursuits." 

To quote still from that great man : "Directly 
or indirectly, man himself is nourished, 
clothed, and, indeed, provided with many of 
his other requisites by plants. The very imple- 
ments of his daily avocation, the comforts of 
his home, the fuel for his hourly wants, the 
means of locomotion, the very paper without 
which his intellectual communication beyond 
he reach of voice would become an impossi- 
bility but for the offerings of the empire of 
plants. If the teachings and debates of our 
convention should tend to advance in any way 
the interests of horticultural pursuits, then we 
may claim to have aided in promoting the wel- 
fare of our own, and perhaps other com- 
munities." 

A. Coutance, Professor of Natural Science, of 
Paris, in his elaborate work on the olive, com- 
piled from the time of the most ancient records, 
states that the laws were made for the protec- 
tion of wheat, the olive and the vine. 

J. De Barth Shorb in an address delivered 
before the Sate Agricultural Society in Sep- 
tember, 1882, said, "The history of agriculture 
is coincident with that of civilization itself, and 
so intimately blended that the study of one 
means necessarily the study of the other, '^ * 
* * Civilization depended on agriculture and 
climate. This carries the mind back to Egypt, 
the birth place of European civilization, 5000 
years ago. This country, in many material 
respects, is similar to our own, and may be 
studied with interest and profit to us all, as it 
existed thousands of years before the Christian 
Era, and remains substantially the same to-day. 
What Egypt has been to European nations, 
California should be, and must become, to the 
American nation. Why was it that civilization 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



thus rose on the banks of the Nile, and not upon 
those of the Danube and Missisaippi? The 
answer is, civilization depends upon climate 
and agriculture. As long as life is a scene of 
uncertainty, that the hopes of yesterday may be 
blighted by the realities of to day, man, in the 
imperious demand for present support, dares 
not venture on speculative attempts for the 
purpose of ameliorating his condition. Agri- 
culture in Ec(ypt is certain, and there man first 
became civilized. Agriculture in California can 
be made as certain, and here man should de- 
velop a civilization and prosperity unequaled in 
this world's history. The arable land of Egypt 
is only 2253 square miles, and yet from this 
insignificant area were supported at one period 
over seven millions of people." Still quoting: 
"At San Gabriel, there are lauds adjoining the 
old mission buildings which have been cropped 
twice a year since the foundation of the mission 
110 years ago, and they still retain their fer- 
tility unimpaired. This is purely the result of 
irrigation." 

I call your attention to this last paragraph as 
it is contrary to every theory as laid down in 
all the agricultural journals in the country. 
They claim that only by systematic fertilizing 
can the productive power of the land be se- 
cured. This is particularly claimed by French 
scientific journals, regarding continued fruit 
crops. The one great expense attending fruit 
production in that country is the fertilizers. 
The above claim is that only water is required. 

It is not a difficult matter to write an address 
generalizing on the subject matter, but what we 
want is hard facts presented in the briefest and 
simplest manner. In what direction is our at- 
tention here to turn in horticulture, and in what 
aspects does it present itself to us ? 

The importance of horticulture in relation to 
educational training has never yet been sufficient - 
ly recognized. Oar children should be taught 
in our common schools. Their observations en- 
larged, their interests enlivened. They should 
be made to feel their responsibility in the proper 
care of every useful plant. But very few 
people appreciate the difficulty to be surmounted 
in the conduct of an experiment. " Nature 
makes experimenters," says Professor Cassidy 
of Colorado. No man can be successful in this 
line of human effort who is careless, slovenly, 
and loose as a practitioner. The practice in the 
profession is largely the ability to measure de- 
tails. 

Subjects for Consideration. 

The important subjects before this conven- 
tion I have arranged or classed under four dif- 
ferent heads, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. These again, 
with the exception of the fourth and last, I have 
subdivided in three different heads, first, second 
and third, as follows: 

No. I — Insect pests and the care of trees. 

No. 2— The preparation, marketing and disposing 
of fruit. 

No. 3 — The variety and kinds of fruit trees to be 
encouraged. 

No. 4— Protection to fruit industry. 

Subdivisions of Nos. i, 2, and 3. — No. i — First, 
the most inexpensive remedies to apply for the de- 
struction of insect pests, how to apply, the time to 
apply, and the cost. Second, the cultivation, the 
pruning, the time to prune. Third, proper laws to 
prevent the spread of insect pests. Number 'one in 
the order as given above will be disposed of on Tues- 
day. No. 2 — First, the care in selection, the kind 



and size of packages, the marketing and shipping. 
Second, the proper time to gather the different kinds 
ol fruits, the curing, etc. Third, how the fruit grow- 
ers are to dispose of their fruits without coming in 
competition with each other as to prices for the same 
quality and kind of fruits. Number two will occupy 
all of Wednesday, including night session. No. 3 — 
First, the best varieties of the different kinds of fruits 
to meet the wants of consumers in the different sea- 
sons. Second, the actual demand and probability of 
increase. Third, the encouragement to new planters 
to confine themselves to such fruits as are not in 
sufficient supply, or in excess, and to those that the 
consumption appears to be for the time being unlim- 
ited. No. 4. — The fourth class or subject (protection 
to the fruit industry) requires very careful considera- 
tion as every individual giving his views would natu- 
rally be biased in favor of his special line of interest. 
You will see by this program that there 
are four general divisions of the subject. I 
propose that we take them up in their order, 
limiting or giving one day to each. The sub- 
divisions of the classes Nos. 1, 2 and 3 can be 
arranged for the equivalent part of the day. 
The remarks of all the members to be limited 
as to time, unless by special privilege. This 
program will consume four days of our time. 
The fifth day I propose to give to the plan of 
preparation for our next annual convention. 

Horticultural Books Recommended. 

I have examined the proceedings of quite a 
number of horticultural societies held east of 
the Rocky mountains, and find in their discuss- 
ions a very wide range of subjects. Our ca- 
pacities, for climatic reasons, being very much 
greater and largely different suggests an inde- 
pendent scope and that we confine our deliber- 
ations more especially to such points as will in- 
crease or secure our greatest prosperity in the 
line of our natural advantages. Allow me, 
however, in this place to recommend that ev- 
ery locality procure for its public library a 
copy of the transactions of the Mississippi Val- 
ley Horticultural Society for 1884. In this 
book there is a register of every National and 
State Horticultural Society in the country. A 
copy of each can be secured, so that every citi- 
zen can have access to them. 

These books or reports have papers on al- 
most every imaginable subject kindred to fruit 
culture, with discussions on the same. I would 
also recommend a book published in Washing- 
ton by the State Department, in June, 1884, 
No. 41J. This latter is especially interesting 
to those engaging in citrus or olive growing. 
If we expect to succeed in our fruit enterprises, 
we must read. 

Insect Remedies. 
Going back to my plan or program, which 
I have represented, I will briefly review some 
of the points or subjects before closing. No. 1, 
the first class — insect pests and care of trees: 
I would call your attention to the various bulle- 
tins that have been issued, giving the formula 
of certain mixtures, represented as efficient 
remedies for the destruction of certain insects. 
We have* the bulletin of B. M. Lolong, San 
Gabriel, Jan. 25, '85, — 40 lbs. whale oil soap, 4 
gallons coal-oil (110° fire test), 100 gallons 
water; cost, $2.84. For the black scale, spray 
in September and October; they hatch through 
July and August. My remarks regarding these 
different mixtures will be confined to their effect 
upon the black scale on olive trees. I have not 
experimented with other insects on citrus trees 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



sufficiently to make a report. The statement 
that they hatch through July and August is 
true, yet not strictly true, for the reason that 
I have known one year — 1883 — the hatching to 
begin early in July and hatch continuously up 
to the middle of the following February, a 
period of seven months. The bulletin of S. F. 
Chapin, Nov. 25th, 1884, gives this mixture, 
which contains five different ingredients besides 
the water. It is impracticable unless put up 
already for sale by some one who is prepared to 
do so in the exact proportions. The cost is two 
and two-thirds cents per gallon. It is too ex- 
pensive, unless guaranteed, and the guarantee 
would depend upon the application or in whose 
hands it was made. I will state in this place 
that since writing the above, and during the 
time I was waiting for the steamer to come to 
Los Angeles, I examined some citrus trees, 
orange, lemon and lime that were badly effected 
with the black scale in May last. After two 
sprayings with the whale oil and iron compound, 
all the insects had disappeared before Nov. 
13th. 

The bulletin of Dobbins, Rice & McKinley, 
Los Angeles, Oct. 15, 1885, is as follows: 25 
lbs. brown soap, 6 Iba. wood potash, 4 gallons 
coal-oil (110" test), 100 gallons water. This 
mixture would, I suppose, cost about two and 
one-half cents the gallon. 

Matthew Cooke's remedy, copied from a Los 
Angeles paper in March last is as follows: 10 lbs. 
whale oil or other soft soap, sulphur 2^ or 3 tt)s,, 
coal oil 1 gallon, water 17 gallons. Cost about 
three and a half cents. All these mixtures are 
good, no doubt, and would kill the newly 
hatched or young scale, but how about the scale 
hatched after October? If we have to keep con- 
stantly spraying we had better use tobacco de- 
coction which costs ten times less. 

Kerosene oil has been considered by entomol- 
ogists, the most effectual insect destroyer. The 
Agricultural Department at Washington has 
taken the same view, and has from year to year 
given directions how to mix and use. As a 
matter of course the greatest care must be ex- 
ercised in preparation and application. I refer 
you to report of 1884, page 331. The experi- 
menters seem to have arrived at the perfect so- 
lution. I have adopted their formula for emul- 
sifying, but for the olive tree washing double 
the strength. The proportions in the bulletins 
of which I first made mention range from 15 
gallons water up to 25 gallons, to one gallon 
of oil. The Government reports nine gallons of 
water to each gallon of the emulsions. In di- 
luting the emulsion I only use six and one-half 
gallons water to each gallon of oil, and I use 
only the best quality of kerosene oil to be had in 
the market of (150° fire test). It mixes Tjetter, 
and is therefore safer in the application. The 
cost of my mixture is about four cents a 
gallon and it takes for large olive trees about 16 
gallons on an average. The cost therefore per 
tree, not counting the labor, fuel, etc., is 64 
cents each washing. 

I experimented with the kerosene mixture in 
April, from 5th to 8th, with the strength of 14 
to 1, and failed to see much benefit. At the 
same time, with the strength 6^ to 1, the trees 
were not injured and most of the scale killed. 
I had the same result on lime trees. At the 
same time I experimented with pyroligneous 
acid on the olive trees, each gallon of acid 
diluted with one gallon of water. The result 



was a perfect success, as every part touched in 
the spraying the insects were destroyed. The 
acid cost in San Francisco, including the bar- j 
rels, 12 cents; the freight and wharfage to i 
Santa Barbara about two cents, equal 14 cents , 
the gallon; eight gallons of acid with eight gal- ' 
Ions of water makes the cost per tree $1.12 each , 
washing. 

From July 29th to August 25th I gave my 
trees a thorough spraying v.ith a decoction of 
tobacco; October 20th to November 10th, a 
thorough spraying with kerosene oil, each gal- 
lon diluted with 65 gallons water. I also ex- 
perimented between the last given dates with 
pyroligneous acid, spirits of turpentine and ice- 
water. The result of these experiments will be 
given at our subsequent convention. 

My formula is : Five gallons best kerosene 
oil, 150° test; one and a fourth pounds good 
common soap, or one bstr and a half of soap us- 
ually sold as pound packages; two and a half 
gallons of water. This makes the emulsion. 
When using dilute 6^ (to 7) gallons of water for 
each gallon of oil, and to this mixture add two 
and a half pounds of good home-made soap dis- 
solved in boiling water. All this mixing is 
done with hot water. We usually have 140° in 
the tank from which we spray. 

For the wooly aphis on apple trees I have 
had good success with caustic soda, at a very 
moderate cost. 

For flowering shrubs or garden plants I would 
recommend sulphur and lime. Formula — two 
pounds sulphur, one pound lime, two gallons 
water; boil one hour. Dilute one gallon of the 
mixture with three gallons of water, or more 
water, according to the strength of the plant. 
The most important question with which we 
have to deal is remedies for the destruction of 
insects, and we should be very careful before 
recommending any remedy as certain in its ope- 
ration. 

Ravages of Insects. 

In the address of Parker Earle, President of 
the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society, 
delivered in January last, he stated that three- 
fourths of the entire apple crop were destroyed 
by insects. This seems like a terrible waste. 
In Santa Barbara county we certainly have not 
nore than one-fifth of an olive crop gathered in 
any one year. 

From another authority, B. D. Walsh, it is 
stated that the annual loss in the United States 
amounts to $300,000,000 from insect pests alone. 
From a report made by B. F. Johnson, of 
Champaign, Illinois, he states that the "chief 
cause of diseases in vegetation is mal-nutrition, 
and that, with proper surroundings, sufficient 
food and abundant water, orchards and all 
other trees will be healthy and fruitful." This 
theory is not borne out by our experience in 
semi-tropical trees. The "Ice^'ya purchasi" is 
no respector of conditions in orange trees or 
any of the citrus family. 

Under the second subdivision of the first 
subject I have mentioned, the cultivating and 
pruning of trees, I would remark concerning 

The Pruning and Cultivation of Olive Trees, 
That the pruning should be done immediately af- 
ter the fruit is gathered. All dead wood 
should be removed, and vigorous thinning out 
on the inside of the trees, so as to admit the 
sunlight and air. This rule should apply to all / 
trees. The cultivation should be thorough. 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



The top surface should be well stirred four or 
five times in the spring. Plowing is only nec- 
essary when the crust under becomes hard. 

Anti-Insect Laws. 

I come now to the third subject in the first 
class: "The laws to prevent the spread of 
insect pests." So far as I have been informed 
not one single test case has been made. In 
Santa Barbara county the Icerya purchasi, com- 
monly called the white cottnoy cushioned 
scale, the worst of all insect pests known in 
this country or any other country, is gradually 
spreading and nothing done to prevent it. In 
the town of Santa Barbara a paitial effort has 
been made. No legal steps have been taken to 
quarantine this most terrible pest. I cannot 
foresee the future regarding it, and am at a 
loss to advise. I fear it will cost the citizens 
of Southern California millions of dollars. 

The second subject proposed is the 

Marketing and Disposing of Fruit. 

Fruits should be graded as to size, handled 
with great care, neatly packed in new and 
clean boxes or packages and artistically marked. 
The kind and size of package should be agreed 
upon and a bulletin issued by the Inspector, so 
as to be distributed pretty generally amongst 
the fruit-growers, giving also the cost of such 
boxes or packages in San Francisco. 

How the fruit-growers are best to dispose of 
their fruits I pass over by simply calling atten- 
tion to the discussion had some weeks ago in 
San Francisco (also on the 11th of this month), 
where a proposition was made to establish a 
central office or business house through which 
all the fruits were to be disposed of, each 
orchardist to be entitled to one share to each 
acre in fruit-bearing trees (on the 13th of 
November articles of incorporation wer filed), 
the variety and kinds of fruit to be encouraged. 
The third class I pass over for the present. 

The fourth class. 

Protection to the Fruit Industry. 

I will state how it operates with regard to 
my business — making olive oil, growing almonds 
and English walnuts. We pay labor one dollar 
a day and board. The boarding costs us about 
35 cents, say two francs; labor five francs, 
equal to seven francs. In the south of France 
and Italy they pay labor one franc; the board- 
ing costs not over one franc, total, two francs; 
difference five francs, or equal to one dollar per 
day on every laborer employed. 

The freight from San Francisco to New 
York on oil is $60 per ton; from the Mediter- 
ranean $15, or one-fourth, so that without an 
import duty, other things being equal, it would 
be better for me to proceed at once to Southern 
Europe to carry on my business. With wal- 
nuts and almonds we make the same compari- 
son, except that the freight on these to New 
York is $40 per ton, and from south of Europe 
about half as much. 

While I wish to avoid any political discussion 
at this meeting not pertinent to our actual de- 
mands or necessities, I will in this place state 
that if we want laws to protect and encourage 
the greatest prosperity of our State, we must as 
intelligent citizens look after the framing of 
them. We cannot plead indifference, or pre- 
occupation; we cannot ignore the community in 
which we live: our district, our county, our 
state or our common country. 



We must look after the disbursements of our 
money. Our taxes are more and more every 
year, notwithstanding we have constantly ring- 
ing in our ears, honest administration, economy, 
retrenchment, etc., but no matter what party 
wins, it is still "more money." Take 1875 as 
the basis of value for my ranch. The first de- 
cade, or 1885, the increase (in taxes) is 70 per 
cent or 7 per cent yearly. There is nothing to 
warrant any such increase. 

Tree Planting. 

The most of you perhaps will remember that 
about ten years ago a law was passed by the 
Legislature to encourage tree planting on the 
public highways. No trees to my knowledge 
have been planted under that law, not because 
the amount to be given for each tree was insig- 
nificant, but because it was impossible to pro- 
tect them. The framers of the law had not an 
intelligent idea of the subject. I think it is 
time to revive this most important necessity. 

We ought to encourage forest tree planting 
for the protection of our fruit trees. It is my 
candid opinion based upon my experience that 
three-fourths of the area in fruit trees, with one- 
fourth in forest trees will produce more fruit 
and better fruits than the same area would with- 
out the forest trees. 

Freight Rates. 

Our freights are very much too high. I am 
satisfied that they can be reduced one-half, and 
still give a fair profit to the railroads. On the 
coast, where we have no railroads, we have 
suffered very greatly from the exhorbitant 
charges of the steamship company. Recently 
an opposition line has been established and the 
rates reduced in some instances to one-fourth 
the former charges. This reduction by the old 
company is manifestly or presumably so made 
in an effort to compel the new line^to withdraw. 
In this connection I wish to call your attention 
to the New Constitution, Art. Xil, Sec. 20, 
page 26 : 

No railroad company or other common carrier 
shall combine or make any contract with the owners 
of any vessel that leaves port or makes port in this 
State, or with any common carrier by which com- 
bination or contract the earnings of one doing the 
carrying are to be shared by the other not doing the 
carrying. 

And whenever a railroad corporation shall, for 
the purpose of competing with any other common 
carrier, lower its rates for transportation of passen- 
gers or freight from one point to another, such re- 
duced rates shall not be again raised or increased, 
etc. 

Why single out a railroad company and not 
apply the same rule to all common carriers ? 
Again, Declaration of Rights on Corporations, 
page 44, after defining corporations, forbiding 
pooling, etc., we find this clause — "Preventing 
the increase of railroad rates that have been re- 
duced for purposes of competition." 

Here we have the railroad singled out again. 
Why? Because the "hue and cry" against the 
railroad was popular. The politicians vied 
with each other to pile on restrictions as to the 
railroad, and possibly at the same time the paid 
agents of other common carriers. The spirit of 
justice did not reign. The omission or exemp- 
tion as to other common carriers renders us 
helpless. I cannot help believing that it was 
intentional, and it should warn us of the danger 
of selecting our representatives. We must 
know whose interest they represent. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



As I said before, we must demand reasonable 
rates of freight, and we should, in return, put 
our fruits on the market at the lowest possible 
prices that the business will warrant. This 
would cheapen the cost to the consumer and in- 
crease enormously the demand. 

Solomon has said, "As a nail sticketh be- 
tween the joinings of a stone, so sin sticketh be- 
tween the buyer and seller." And while this 
•floes repi'esent the general tendency of trade, 
we ought to come up to the high standard of 
the Golden Rule — "To do unto others as we 
would have them do unto us." "Let us con- 
sider those deeds the greatest which give new 
sources of comfort, both physical and mental, 
to mankind, and which harmonize the interests 
of all branches of the great family of man." 

After delivering his opening address, Presi- 
dent Cooper announced the first topic for dis- 
cussion, "The Most Inexpensive Remedies to 
Apply for the Destruction of Insect Pests: 
How to Apply, the Time to Apply, and the 
Cost." 

Dr. J. M. Prey, of Newcastle, Placer county : 
I have a small orchard in the northern part of 
the State, in Placer county, which is very 
much infested with insect pests of all kinds. 
The wooly aphis is almost probably the worst 
we have, and the red spider. I find that coal 
oil is the best remedy to use, so far as killing 
the insects, but we find it very liable to kill the 
trees. I found it necessary to make an emul- 
sion which would thoroughly disguise the oil 
and do it in the cheapest possible manner. As 
I had a number of cows, and saw something in 
the paper about an emulsion of milk, I tried 
that, and I think I hit upon the cheapest plan, 
and easiest and safest manner of applying coal 
oil. I took about five gallons of skimmed 
milk and churned it with one gallon of coal oil. 
I found it good for killing the wooly aphis and 
the scale. It cleared my trees of the scale and 
wooly aphis, but it did not kill the red spider. 
To attack them I made a mixture of white- 
wash and salt, and whitewashed the trees and 
branches so far as I could get at tliem, but the 
branches ran out so small that to whitewash 
them took some little time. With these two 
simple remedies I have cleared out all the in- 
sects from my orchard. In packing my pears 
this last year I instructed my man to be very 
careful and pick out all the pears that were at- 
tacked by the scale, and I don't think that I 
had a bushel of pears that were so affected. A 
great^many orchards around me are entirely 
ruined, and I think that my experience is worth 
something. 

A Delegate : I would like to inquire what 
proportion of water was used in the emulsion. 

Dr. Prey: I took five gallons of milk and 
one gallon of coal oil; to that I added eight gal- 
lons of water. Different trees will bear differ- 
ent remedies and of different strength. For in- 
stance, the olive is a. very tough tree; you can 
give it twice the strength you put on the cher- 
ry tree. The peach is also a tree that is easily 
hurt; you have to be very careful with that, 
but on the apple, the plum and the quince you 
can put a pretty good strength and not be li- 
able to hurt them. The whole thing is to be 
very careful not to have globules of kerosene 
floating on top of the mixture. You must 
make a perfect emulsion and then no harm will 
be done. The cherry tree, however, is very 
apt to be hurt. 



Dr. 0. B. Congp.r, of Pasadena: I suppose 
friendly criticisms are very proper to be made. 
I rise to criticise this remark that this gentle- 
man has just made, that you must thor- 
oughly make an emulsion or else the kerosene 
will have a bad efi'ect. I would like to ask 
what the property is that does the work; is it 
the kerosene or the milk in the emulsion? 

Dr. Prey: The kerosene, undoubtedly. It 
must still be in the form of kerosene, whether 
it is with milk or whale oil soap. 

Dr. Conger: Now, to my mind, kerosene is 
a bad agent; or an agent, perhaps, that will do 
damage to the delicate foliage, so far as I have 
experimented with it. I have set it aside, 
from the fact of its penetrating the bark of the 
tree or the leaf. I can not say that I have seen 
direct injurious results from one application, 
but I suspect that if it is continued there will 
be harm arising from its use, from the fact of 
its penetrating, or liability to penetrate the 
bark and leaf of the plant. We all know that 
if you place it upon your hand it is readily ab- 
sorbed like many volatile substances. It read- 
ily disappears in the wood of the tree. It 
spreads very rapidly and passes away from 
sight. Perhaps, to some extent, it evaporates; 
but I apprehend that it penetrates the bark 
and the leaf of the plant, and hence it must in- 
terfere with the circulation. Now, there is an 
erroneous opinion arisen in regard to making 
this emulsion, in my judgment. The people, 
in making the emulsion, imagine that when 
they have diluted it, it acts in some other way 
— not directly as kerosene, and there is the 
point that I rise to call attention to: that in 
whatever form it is used, it still acts as kero- 
sene. 

Mr. Williams, of Presno: By mixing certain 
elements we sometimes destroy the deleterious 
effects of those elements. Now, by mixing with 
milk, as Dr. Prey suggests, does not the emul- 
sion destroy the efi'ect of the kerosene upon the 
live plants, and can we not preserve those prop- 
erties in the kerosene that destroys the animal 
life and yet preserve our plant life? 

Mr. L. J. Rose, of San Gabriel: As far as 
destroying the eff^ect of the coal oil in emulsions 
is concerned, I think there is nothing in it. I 
think an emulsion is for the purpose of evenly 
distributing the coal oil on a tree. If there is 
no emulsion, why then it separates and keeps 
to itself and you are liable to spray your tree 
with nothing but coal oil, but an emulsion takes 
it up and distributes it evenly through a cer- 
tain quantity of water or whatever you may 
spray with. I have sprayed a good deal in my 
time, and I believe that if you can get along 
without coal oil it would be better not to use it. 
It certainly kills, but it also injures the tree; 
if you use it as an emulsion that is the least in- 
jury, because you apply it so lightly to every 
part, but theie is danger where you do it in 
large quantities, and leave these matters to 
other parties that they may not get a 
good emulsion, and even in the emulsion 
that I have I find that my trees have 
sufi'ered to some extent. I believe that 
you will find where you have sprayed trees 
with an emulsion two or three times that some 
of the twigs are dead, that the leaves fall on 
some parts of the tree, that the tender green 
bark will be discolored, as will be found by 
cutting into it. I wish to call attention to a 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



matter that was brought to my notice on the 
cars by a gentleman whom I hope will be here, 
Mr. Thomas, of Viaalia. He says he has 
has some wood with him that has been washed 
with a solution of brine — salt dissolved with 
water, as much as it will dissolve, and the tree 
washed with it for what is known as the San 
Jose scale. He told me it had killed all the 
scale on the tree and it afterwards had made a 
good growth, and it was entirely free from 
scale. So far as maay remedies are concerned 
they are remedies that will apparently kill all 
or mostly all the insects on the tree, but so far 
as my experience goes I have not perfected any- 
thing, I have the same thing to deal with 
from time to time, and it is a continued labor. 
Now if we could get something that would do 
this and would absolutely destroy it so that we 
would be free from it, of course the benefits 
-would be much larger. Whether this is pos- 
sible or not I do not know, I have studied 
over this a good deal because it is my interest to 
study it, I have thought perhaps that some 
kind of odors, some kinds of gases, some kinds 
of fumigation under a tent, that would reach 
every part of the tree, would probably do the 
work, I have been in hopes that people who 
have more leisure would experiment v/ith it 
and find out something in that direction, and I 
utill hope that something will be found out 
that will be a better remedy than anything we 
have. Whether there is anything in this salt 
remedy or not, I do not know. The gentleman 
is here and he has Pome wood which I think 
would be interesting for the people to see. 

Mr. Thomas, of Visalia : If you will permit 
me, in the afternoon I will bring those sam- 
ples of wood before you and explain to you all 
I know about it. It is something I only dis- 
covered a few days ago in Fresno county. I 
gave it as severe investigation as I could. I 
only found one gentleman that used it, and I 
think it is a success, so far as that gentleman 
used it. 

John Brittan, of San Jose : I suppose that I 
have had some experience in eradicating the 
San Jose scale, I do claim that I was the first 
man to use a remedy for it, I unfortunately 
bought an old orchard about the time that the 
scale became prevalent there, I got a pretty 
good dose of- it — enough to keep me busy for 
three or four years, I started in on the basis 
of potash, I liked potash because there is 
nothing lost in using it, and if I spend $50 to 
put it on my orchard I think I get it back in 
the course of a few years. I have always con- 
sidered that without potash you will not get 
very good fruit. That is a great question for 
fruit-growers to consider. The question of 
spending $50 and getting some of it back again 
in other ways besides destroying the insect is 
important. I adhered to my original plan, and 
I did exterminate on my orchard the San Jose 
scale. I started in on it some eight or nine 
years ago, and for the last two years I have not 
seen a sign of the scale, in fact I eradicated 
them so well that I have not washed for two 
years. I began using pure potash or concen- 
trated lye by dissolving it in water and thor- 
oughly drenching the trees. I did not confine 
myself to simply spraying them. I gave them 
all that I thought they ought to have, and I 
was not careful about saving it at all. I simply 
let it go onto the ground, and I found out that 
after continuing in that course of treatment for 



three years I began to get the better of the 
scale, and for the last two years I have not 
seen a sign of them in my orchard. I have 
an idea that if a tree has all the pot- 
ash it wants that these insects can't destroy 
it. The potash seems to be an antidote 
for the poison that these insects inject into the 
tree, I have always based my theory that they 
did Hot destroy a tree by what they took from 
it, but by what they lefs therein. If you cut* 
off the bark from a tree which is infested with 
San Jose scale, so that you can see the inside of 
the bark, you will find it all i-ed, and that red 
extends right into the inner part of the tree, 
I fiad that by applying lye that after it had per- 
formed its work that red color will become ex- 
tracted, come right out onto the tree and form 
a gum on the outside, and then the bark takes 
on its natural color again. 1 have had a ti'eeso 
badly infested with the San Jose scale that it 
produced no leaves for two years, and yet that 
tree recovered and is standing a healthy tree 
to-day. I attribute it to the effect of the lye, 
I believe the lye destroyed the poison, I am 
perfectly satisficed it will destroy all insects. 
You can kill all the red scale on a tree, and if 
the tree does not get some remedy to overcome 
that poison, the tree will then die, I know 
that such has been the case in Santa Clara 
county. From my experience, therefore, I 
think that lye is the best remedy and that lye 
should be the basis of all washes. Tobacco 
water, as the President stated, is good because 
it contains more lye than any other wash that 
can be used. I consider that all washes should 
be based on potash, not only for the immediate 
effect, but for their beneficial effect afterwards. 

Dr. Frey: How much water do you use to a 
pound of potash? 

Mr. Brittan: I never have used the wash 
any stronger than one pound of concentrated 
lye to four gallons of water. I have experi- 
mented with it stronger, but I never used it so 
as a general thing. 

A Delegate: Is the potash as good as the 
concentrated lye or is it cheaper? 

Mr. Brittan: That is all governed by the 
amount of potash you get in a pound, I have 
always found the American concentrated lye 
the cheapest. We can get it stronger from that 
than from any other ingredient we can use. 
The American concentrated lye I use should 
contain 95 per cent of potash, 

A Delegate: I should like to inquire what 
kind of an apparatus did you use in applying it, 

Mr. Brittan: I use a Gould pump — one of 
those small Gould force pumps. I have a tank 
and put the tank on a sled and a Gould pump 
and hose and a common garden hose nozzle, 

Mr. Wilcox, of Santa Clara: There is this 
to say about that wash, and it is so with all 
applications for these pests: sometimes they 
succeed and sometimes they fail. Four or five 
years ago I put out a couple of thousand pear 
trees; some of them were affected and part of 
them were not, and the insects have increased 
a hundred per cent since that time, although 
the trees were all dipped before they left the 
nursery, and although I quarantined them on 
my place and burnt the refuse so that the in- 
sects would not spread that way. I am in- 
clined to think the lye is effectual, but I think 
sometimes these insects are about the roots of 
the trees or about the clay of some substance 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



around them that the lye did not penetrate. 
After all the experiments we have made at San 
Jose, and we have made them very extensively, 
we have some left. I was induced a little while 
ago by Mr. Settle, of the Farniers' Union, 
where we get all of our washes, to buy a barrel 
of sal-soda; he said that was the most effectual 
of anything they had tried. I would like to 
hear from other persons in regard to that mat- 
ter. I am inclined to think that these washes 
are all effectual, but that they do not always 
reach the insect. 

J. H. Kellogg, of Tustin: Eighteen months 
ago, digging around one of my apple trees, I 
discovered that I had a pest, which I was told 
was the wooly aphis. I was advised to put 
lime and ashes, mixed, around the butt of the 
tree, and to pour on some v/ater; and Dr. Cha- 
pin proposed to take caustic soda and make a 
solution and let it run down. I tried both, and 
the lime and ashes were not effectual. The 
caustic soda I applied, and I found it killed the 
wooly aphis. I applied it again' and again, 
perhaps five or six times, and I think that I 
have nearly conquered the woolly aphis around 
the trunk of the tree; but it would appear again 
in the foliage and around the larger branches. 
To defeat that, I put on coal oil. I took a 
brush and dipped it in coal oil and applied it, 
and that will kill the wooly aphis; but it 
breaks out in another spot, and as the matter 
stands, about one-half of my apple trees are 
free from the wooly aphis and the other half 
are still affected, and I am still fighting theTi. 

Mr. G. N. Milco, of Stockton: As nearly 
as I can understand, this county has been seri- 
ously infested by the cottony cushion scale. I 
would like very much to hear what has been 
done in the matter, and what remedies have 
been prescribed, and then I shall offer some- 
thing that I have got on the subject. I have 
a remedy, and, if the members of this meeting 
will allow me, I will submit a letter on the 
subject: 

Sacramento, November 14, 1885. 

G. N. Milco, Esq., — Dear Sir: I write to advise 
you that I have been using buhach for the extermi- 
nation of the cottony cushion scale, with very favor- 
able results. The trees infested were in gardens, 
some having beautiful grass plots, and others were 
stocked with choice flowers, etc. I could not use 
the common washes containing coal oil, etc., as it 
would destroy the flowers, grasses, etc. 

After deloliating the trees, shrubs, etc., I used a 
solution of soft soap 15 pounds, buhach -l% pounds, 
water 20 gallons. The trees and plants being thor- 
oughly sprayed, the grounds were also thoroughly 
soaked so as to destroy any that had fallen off. 1 
have made a thorough investigation, and cannot 
find a living scale on the trees treated in this way; 
besides, the use of the buhach instead of coal oil, etc. , 
protected the grass and other plants. 

I intend repeating the spraying lest any may have 
escaped on the flowering plants, and will repoit to 
you fully, or at least will send you the report that I 
will make to the Board of Trustees of this city, who 
ordered the work done. 

I am well pleased with the result so far, and I con- 
sider the money expended in purchasing 30 pounds 
of buhach was an excellent investment, not only as a 
safe remedy for the protection of plants, but as an 
insecticide; in such cases it has no superior. 

Yours, etc., Matthew Cooke. 

It may not be known, Mr, President, that 
Mr. Cooke took a contract from the Trustees of 
Sacramento city to eradicate the cottony cush- 
ion scale for a certain consideration, and no 



money to be paid unless they were satisfied 
that the work was done. 

Mr. Cooper: Please state the cost of that 
mixture. 

Mr. Milco: My opinion is that the cost of 
this wash, according to his formula, will be 
something in the neighborhood of seven cents 
per gallon, but as the wash is not used as my 
friend Mr. Brittan says, through a common gar- 
den hose, but through the Cyclone nozzle, the 
wash v/ill go a good ways, and a gallon will 
probably go over a good deal of space. 

Mr. G. M. Grey, of Chico: I would like to 
say one word on the lye question; it seems to 
have been dropped. I do not know the amount 
of lye thai each person could make by collect- 
ing the ashes and making his own lye, but that 
would be better than anything we can buy. We 
have at Chico several engines running in town 
and on the ranch where I am at work. We 
have taken pains for the last three or four 
years to save all the good hard-wood ashes 
that we could gather, and then at the time 
that they want to use the lye to make it in 
hoppers, running it into a large pine tank 
which is buried in the ground (it seems to hold 
it better that way than any other we can find), 
and we use the lye for these insects v/hich are 
doing so much damage. I agree with these 
gentlemen who have remarked upon his ques- 
tion that I believe that there is nothing any 
better to be used than lye. When we use con- 
centrated lye we use three-fourths of a pound to 
a gallon of water; that is about as strong as the 
more hardy trees will stand, and it is as strong 
as we can handle. We have no San Jose scale, 
but we have been troubled with the rose scale 
or the v/hite scale on our blackberries, and by 
going over the blackberry bushes twice each 
year we are getting rid of them entirely. This 
fall there seems to be a sprinkling of them, but 
only a few; and we have reduced the quantity 
of wooly aphis very much from the apple trees 
by using this lye once or twice during the win- 
ter, and putting ashes around the routs of the 
tree. A half bushel, or about that amount, 
is placed around each tree, and we have con- 
tinued that until I think now there is on.y one 
wooly aphis where there were a thousand three 
years ago. As to the cottony cushion scale, 
there was one tree which stood in the wood- 
yard away from anything else and it was re- 
ported to me two years ago that it was covered 
with something white. I went and examined 
the tree and found it the cottony cushion scale, 
and we haven't found anything of the kind any- 
where else in Butte county that I know of. 
That was the only tree, and where it came from, 
and how it happened that they were not scat- 
tered more, is a mystery. I spread straw 
around the tree for a foot deep, and cut off 
every branch and let them lie on the straw two 
or three daj's until the leaves wilted, and burnt 
it all up. I supposed it would kill the tree, 
but the next spring it came out and now it has 
a large, fine crop, and not a sign of the cot- 
tony cushion scale on it yet. 

Dr. 0. F. Chubb, of Orange : I want to 
state, in regard to the lye treatment, that un- 
der my observation some gentleman was using 
concentrated lye with lime, a very thin wash 
and very cheaply prepared — I think one pound 
of lye and one pound of lime to five gallons of 
water. They used lime, claiming that it at- 
tracted the lye to the limbs and the leaves of 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVtNTION 



the tree and retained it longer. It is one of the 
latest applications that we are making in that 
countj', and it seems to do the work most thor- 
oughly. Now, there is a point that is touched 
on by the gentleman from Santa Clara that I 
think needs more consideration than we have 
been givng it; that is t he application of such 
remedies as contribute to the growth and 
thriftiness of the tree. I believe that it will 
accord with the observation o^ most of you, 
that the more thrifty any fruit tree is in its 
growth the less it is aflfected by the pests, and 
the scale particularly. That has been my ob- 
servation, and I believe if the most eminent 
chemists would give it their attention and give 
us the chemical ingredients necessary to pro- 
mote the more thrifty growth, so that we would 
use those, we would have less trouble 
with the scale. I call to mind an orchard that 
I examined in this city two years ago, where 
the entire tree was almost entirely free from 
the black scale which was then the only one in- 
festing this section to any extent (that is, the 
white scale had not been talked of), and I 
asked the owner how he had secured that de- 
gree of cleanliness from the black scale. He 
said he had done it by making a very heavy 
application of sheep manure from the sheep 
ranch and corral. He hauled on a very large 
quantity and applied it thoroughly. There 
was one tree that I discovered that had a large 
amount of black scale on it. I said : "How is 
this that this tree is so affected and the rest so 
clean ?" He said that the tree was damaged, 
and called my attention to the body near the 
ground, where the bark had been almost torn 
off clear around from a team he had cultivating 
running away with the harrow and running 
against the tree and breaking off the bark and 
almost destroying the life of the tiee. It so 
far interfered with the growth that there had 
been no growth for two or three years; the re- 
sult was it was covered with black scale at that 
time. At the time I saw it, it was somewhat 
recovering. This point of promoting the thrift 
of trees, and if possible by applications that 
will also kill the insects, I believe is a vital 
point. 

Dr. E. Kimball, of Haywards: I have an 
olive orchard at my house — about five hundred 
trees. They became thoroughly infested with 
black-scale — on every limb, some of them. I 
cut off the entire top in March, a year ago, 
from four hundred trees; cut them right down 
to hitching posts, leaving only short stubs of 
limbs. I subsequently washed those trees with 
concentrated lye, one pound to four gallons of 
water — simply sprayed them with the San Jose 
nozzle. On the sixth of May the first leaf came 
out; they now have tops almost as large 
as they were before, and from some of 
them I have picked five gallons of olives this 
year. On the hundred trees that I did not top 
there is more or less scale now, although treat- 
ed in the same way — by drenching them thor- 
oughly, but not with the same treatment. I 
treated them with ten pounds of Los Angeles 
whale oil soap and twenty pounds of quick- 
lime to forty gallons of water. That has not 
killed the scale entirely, though very little is 
left, and none of it has been communicated to 
the trees that I topped. I fail to discover one 
on them, and they are in a very vigorous con- 
dition. I then tried the same wash, ten pounds 
of whale oil soap and ten pounds of quick-lime 



to forty gallons of water, on about twenty-five 
lemon trees that were thoroughly infested with 
the black scale and some willow scale. It had 
not the slightest effect upon the willow scale, 
but the black scale it has about half killed. I 
have not found that effectual on any trees, but 
the one pound of lye to four gallons of water, I 
have found effectual. That will eradicate the 
black scale, the only scale I have, except the 
willow scale, 

Mr. T. A. Garey, of Los Angeles: Dr. 
Chubb's statement in regard to the vigorous 
growth of the orange trees having a tendency 
to clear the tree of black scale is a fact. I have 
known orange trees taken out of nurseries in 
the vicinity of Los Angeles thoroughly covered 
with the black scale planted on the rich high 
land toward the mountains where the condi- 
tions seem to be more proper and better for the 
orange trees, and they cleared themselves en- 
tirely without any application of anything what- 
ever. The change in the location and the vigo- 
rous growth of the tree will clear the tree of the 
black scale, but that is not the case with the 
cottony cushion scale. The more you cultivate 
the tree the more vigorously it grows, and the 
more vigorous your cottony cushion scale be- 
comes, I don't think it has any tendency what- 
ever to reduce it. It is a pest that will require 
the combined wisdom of the people of this 
State and locality to remedy and to eradicate, 
and that remedy should be cheap enough 
to be within the reach of the people 
who need it. Now, when Mr. Milco talks 
about seven cents a gallon for the expense of 
his buhach and other things, that ends the mat- 
ter. Though it may kill all the scale, the cot- 
tony cushion scale, the ordinary orchardist 
cannot afford to pay it — it would bankrupt 
him. About as cheap and probably a better 
method would be to dig the trees up and burn 
them up. We must get a safe and sure and 
cheap remedy. A few wealthy men of this 
county may stand seven cents a gallon for 
spraying their trees, in order to eradicate the 
white scale, but the ordinary run of orchardists 
can't do it, so that however effective a remedy 
may be we could not have it, because of the ex- 
pense; it would be an embargo upon it. Now, 
I hope out of the deliberations of this conven- 
tion, and what we may learn to-day, that we 
may get down to something that would be 
practicable in the way of eradicating this terri- 
ble pest — the cottony cushion scale. I do 
not think that we have any San Jose scale in 
Los Angeles county; if we have I have never 
heard of it. I don't know for certain, but it is 
of great importance to us to know something 
about it and the prevention and the cure, be- 
cause a cure for the San Jose scale would be 
likely a cure for the cottony cushion scale, and 
that is the thing we are looking to more espe- 
cially. The wooly aphis has also been referred 
to; my impression is, the best way to kill the 
wooly aphis is to dig the tree up and burn it 
up. One gentleman from Orange stated that 
he applies a little coal oil when he sees it on the 
branches, and one-third of his orchard is clear 
and two-thirds are affected. I think it will con- 
tinue to do that way; it is a continuous trouble 
and a continuous expense. The wooly aphis, I 
think, is one of the most difficult things to erad- 
icate from our orchards that we know of. In 
regard to the remedy of brine, proposed by Mr. 
Thomas, of Visalia, I suppose that he has refer- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



ence to the San Jose scale on deciduous fruit 
trees I would like to know of Mr. Thomas how 
long it has been since he made that experiment, 
and the condition of the trees after he made the 
experiment. They have been speaking about the 
deleterious effects of the coal oil on trees. I do 
not rhink it will compare with brine. I think 
the salt brine will kill the tree outright and you 
will get rid of it without any trouble, insects 
and all. I know that salt brine around the 
roots of orange trees will kill the trees; they 
will shed the leaves almost at once and the tree 
will dwindle until it dies if there is any strength 
• at all in the brine. You have got to look out 
for that. 

Mr. Milco: As near as I can understand the 
gentleman, the complaint is that the remedies, 
like that proposed by Mr. Cooke, were too ex- 
pensive. Now I would like to know how much 
money has been spent in washes for the last 
five years in this State, and I would like to 
know whether there is a single man here to-day 
who has an orchard that is clean from insects. 
I would like to know if there is a man on this 
floor that has a remedy. 

Mr. Garey: I would like to know if you 
have a remedy. 

Mr. Milco: The remedy is just read to you. 

Mr. Garey: Well is it effectual by one appli- 
cation? 

Mr. Milco: It seems so from this letter from 
Mr. Cooke. 

Mr. Williams, of Fresno: I think this is the 
best opport unity for Matthew Cooke to get a big 
contract on his hands right here in Los Angeles 
county. He took a contract in Sacramento for 
eradicating the scale permanently for $200. I 
think there were four places that were infested 
with the scale, and if we had Mr. Matthew 
Cooke down here I think we would give him a 
big job, and if that remedy is as effectual as 
they say it is, I think it economy to let Los 
Angeles county out to him and let him do the 
job up at once and get rid of it. 

A Delegate: How large was the tract in 
Sacramento? 

Mr. Milco: I don't know anything about the 
extent, but I know I read an article in the 
Record- Union last July calling attention to the 
danger of the spread of this scale insect, and 
finally it was brought before the trustees, and 
the result is just as Mr. Cooke states in bis 
letter. 

At this point the convention adjourned until 
afternoon. 

At the opening of the afternoon session on 
Tuesday, Nov. 17th, the following 

Address of Welcome 

Was delivered by Stephen M. White, Esq., of 
Los Angeles : ' 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
Some little time ago, the committee to which 
the management of your reception had been en- 
trusted, inquired whether it would be convenient 
for me to address to those who should assem- 
ble here words of welcome, and to say in behalf 
of the citizens of Los Angeles county in gen- 
eral, and more particular in behalf of those who 
are directly interested in the work in which 
you are engaged, that your advent is not only 
in accordance with public desire, but that the 
greeting which you may expect will be cordial 
and sincere. Entertaining such sentiments my- 



self, and glad of an opportunity to give them 
utterance, I accepted the invitation, thinking 
without justification, in seems, that I would be 
able to reduce my thoughts to a coherent and 
intelligible form. I know that it is the habit 
of those who address public assemblages to ex- 
cuse themselves for crude and unstudied utter- 
ances, and when this is done the speaker, as a 
rule, has stored in his pockets, or placed in the 
printer's hands, a very large amount of manu- 
script which has been the subject of much at- 
tention. , 

However unreliable such statements generally 
are, I can, nevertheless, truly say that it has 
been impossible for me to prepare anything in 
the nature of a speech, and the limited exper- 
ience I have had in such matters has convinced 
me that inadequate preparation is worse than 
none, and that extempore efforts are calculated 
to do more good than partially preconceived 
efforts. Perhaps it is better that unyielding 
circumstances have precluded my giving this 
address the care it merits by the occasion. 
Had I been "prepared," I would no doubt have 
spoken glowingly of our balmy atmosphere and 
Italian skies; would have dwelt upon the dry- 
ness of the air, and I might have said something 
as to our irrigating necessities. In view of the 
condition of our streets, the demand for over- 
coats, and the uncertain tenure by which we all 
hold our umbrellas, such remarks would have 
been the subject of no little embarrassment. 

With this preliminary, let me say that Los 
Angeles city and county, and Southern Califor- 
nia, extend to you an earnest and enthusiastic 
welcome. 

Glad to have you here as friends, we are over- 
joyed at the presence of an organization formed 
on a legal basis and endeavoring in a scientific 
way to insure the permancy, and advance the 
interest of that which is fast becoming the lead- 
ing industry of California. It is not long ago 
since the interests represented by you were re- 
garded as merely incidental to others — as hardly 
worthy of secondary consideration. Men looked 
to mining, the raising of stock, and in some lo- 
calities, to the production of cereals, as about 
the only means of acquiring a livelihood. 

And to have attempted a thorough investi- 
gation of those matters which you are here to 
fully examine would have been deemed an idle 
dream, a visionary scheme, unworthy the at- 
tention of a practical man. 

How great the change which time has made 
in this, as in almost every walk where the re- 
quirements of the situation draw upon the in- 
dustry and intellect of man! And how the face 
of nature has been transformed and even the 
current of trade reversed ! 

Not many years have elapsed since it was 
supposed that marketable apples could not be 
grown in Los Angeles county. Yet, a few days 
ago when our fair was held in the large market 
building nearly opposite us, one person dis- 
played 300 varieties of magnificent apples, raised 
by him in this county. The exhibit not only 
enlisted universal comment but excited the ap- 
plause of the numerous visitors from other 
States, who were fortunate enough to witness 
that tangible evidence of material develop- 
ment. Potatoes, cabbages, vegetables of all 
kinds were largely imported by Los Angeles 
dealers some years past, and the assertion that 
a miscellaneous fruit production would ever 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



emanate from this portion of the State, if ever 
made, would have been treated with uncon- 
cealed incredulity. 

It is unnecessary to refer to the patent fact 
that fruit production has p^issed the embri'O 
stage aud that the great possibilities, which are 
offered by our climate and peculiar condition, 
are of such magnitude as to render it difficult to 
realize them. 

To me, one of the mosb pleasant features of 
the situation is to be found in the contempla- 
tion of the fact that our movements are not di- 
rected by chance, and that combined effort 
will soon eliminate the element of uncertainty 
which must ever attend that class of business 
which is at the mercy of a stronger power. Nor 
is the prospect only that which follows 'combi- 
nation. Intelligence and experience are to 
guideand to govern this organized industry. 
The Legislature will enact such laws as are 
found consonant with fundamental maxims and 
at the same time suffic;iently comprehensive to 
effect the desired object. 

When the initiatory steps toward the extir- 
pation of fruit pests were being taken, many 
well-minded persons objected to investing, as 
they said, plenary power in a few men. It was 
asserted that it was dangerous to permit the 
invasion of private property against the will of 
the owner, and under circumstances which did 
not seem, viewed "in the light of other days," 
to warrant a disregard of the owner's fishes. 
"I can and will attend to my own business," 
was the crj'. But, adopting that practical busi- 
nesslike view, which is perhaps incident to 
American manhood, and remembering that the 
citizen must so use his property as not to ma- 
terially impair that of his neighbor, and that 
the "police power" was co cKteusive with the 
danger, our fruit-growers are practically 
unanimous in their submission of official author- 
ity, and the only question appears to be as lo 
the most desirable means to gain the desired 
end. 

We cannot, amd indeed do not, attempt to 
deny that the fruit prospects are largely im 
paired by the presence of numberless and in- 
vidious foes; in this very city the scale bug 
seemed for a long time to be master of the situ- 
ation. Slow, non-radical treatment was barren 
of results, and only since "heroic treatment" 
was adopted have we entertained, and, with 
reason, too, strong hopes of ultimate mastery. 
The methods essential for success — those from 
which the best results will flow — must become 
matters of common learning before the fight 
can be said to be thoroughly organized. 

You, gentlemen, who are devoting yourselves 
to this work, not merely for your personal bene- 
fit, but also for the well-being of your fellow- 
citizens, must, through your personal labor, and 
by means of conventions such as this, supply 
the needed instruction — give the proper educa- 
tion. 

The consequences of your movements upon 
the enemy are being notably felt. I observe a 
steadily growing desire to recognize and appre- 
ciate your leadership in the important charge 
over which your jurisdiction extends. 

You are looked to as forming a tribunal cre- 
ated to furnish useful information, to make sug- 
gestions and to carry out the views you enunci- 
ate. All parties interested have a right to look 
to you for this and I know they will not look 
in vain. The eradication of a serious peril — 



one which menaces the permanency of our 
State's resources, is no trivial affair. 

The proper treatment of the vital issue thus 
presented is of more importance to us at present 
than the result of any political caucus or con- 
vention, or even election. I do not feel myself 
competent to make any specific suggestions to 
j'ou, but allow me to say that the efficacy ot 
your action here depends somewhat upon its 
unaminity. Divided counsels are rarely pro- 
ductive of intended benefit. Full, candid and 
thorough discussion should, no doubt, be had; 
but after ample consideration make some rec- 
ommendation upon which you can afford to 
stand and do not doubt that your decision will 
be considered enough to warrant its general 
and practical application. 

Our knowledge has surely reached the point 
where we clearly and unmistakably see that 
without the aid of the Government and an in- 
telligent body to enforce the law, our prospects 
would not be bright, or the chances of enduring 
prosperity encouraging. 

That American brain and muscle is fast win- 
ning the upper hand in this battle I take for 
granted, and with that conflict determined in 
our favor, who can measure the greatness in 
store for California? There was a day in the 
earlier stages of her being when those who, ani- 
mated by youthful energy and lured by tales of 
golden treasures, came to her shores for 
pecuniary gain alone. Their restless activity 
guided them to hitherto unexplored fastnesses, 
under, along and over beds of rivers, below the 
mountain's base, all to acquire enough to enable 
the possessor to return to his native heath, and 
enjoy the profits of his perilous enterprise. 
Those days are gone. The cattle king with his 
mighty herds finds his exterior boundary lines 
contracting. The great farmer, whose thou- 
sands of acres yielded him but a meager crop, 
sold at a meager price, is gradually passing 
away. The spirit of progression waves us on 
toward the vineyard, the orchard, the neat 
homes, the garden and the well cared for stock 
farm. 

Ancient methods are being displaced and the 
mind as well as the soil is found to be a subject 
for profitable cultivation. 

The tendency of your efforts is towards a 
higher civilization; it means the increase of 
independent land-owners, the encouragement 
of those things which civilize, which do good, 
which destroy crime, or rather obliterate its 
causes. 

The unavoidable delays which the late storm 
has occasioned, and the consequent change of 
hour for this meeting has somewhat complicated 
my business appointments. I am, therefore, com- 
pelled to close, which I will do by welcoming 
you once more to Los Angeles, assuring you at 
the same time that you will have general and 
cordial co-operation in your efforts to advance 
and promote those great enterprises, which, 
supplying honestly acquired wealth, at the same 
time drive away care, and develop and cause to 
be transmitted that happiness and personal 
satisfaction which is among the most common 
of legitimate aspirations. 

Discussion on Insect Fighting. 
After the address of Mr. White the discussion 
on injurious insects was continued. 

L. J. Rose, of San Gabriel: I have been a res- 
ident here for some time and engaged in orange 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



II 



culture, and have done a great deal in the way 
of trying to eradicate the scale bug. In the 
first place we had the red scale, and we were 
very much alarmed about it. I then began 
cutting off the trees, trimming them so as to 
leave nothing but the bare branches, and scour- 
ing the whole tree with soap and water. After 
a few years they grew out very beautiful- 
ly but were as full of the red scale as they 
were before. I have the cottony cushion scale 
now, and I am doing everything I can to find 
out what will kill it. We liave done a great 
many unnecessary things, and we have done 
things that may have been of doubtful benefit 
and of more expense than is necessary. The 
formula that I firss used *as whale oil soap, 
coal oil of such a standard of fire test and pot- 
ash. We now find that whale oil soap is not 
necessary, Ju fact it is an injury, because it 
stains the fruit; whereas common cheap soap 
does not stain the fruit, so we are using a wash 
that costs less money. Again, the fire test coal 
oil was considered a great benefit and a great 
necessity. If I may judge from my experience, 
it is of doubtful benefit; in fact, I think it is of no 
benefit at all. It kills the bugs, but the potash 
kills the bugs vrithout it, and the potash is a bene- 
fit to the soil, and is of no injury in any respect. 
I will state to Mr. Milco that I have heard be- 
fore of Mr. Cooke's opinion and belief. I 
do not know of a man that I have a greater 
esteem for in this matter. On the other hand, 
I have gone through so much here, have seen 
so many things that turned out failures, that I 
have some'little misgivings that Mr. Cooke is 
mistaken, too. I know something of the lot 
in Sacramento which he treated. They had 
little trees that were trimmed ofi and radically 
treated, and I have no doubt that they are free 
from the cottony cushion scale to-day. Accord- 
ing to the experience we have had here for two 
years with the remedies I have said I have 
used, they kill the bug, but there is another 
fact: as soon as you begin spraying the bug falls 
off the tree and it buries itself in the soil, 
and when you are done spraying the bug again 
ascends the tree, and in a little while, by its 
prolific habits, is as numerous aa ever. Now, 
this has been my experience; it has been the 
experience of the whole county. You cannot 
show mo one place where the scale has been 
eradicated. That is a broad assertion, but I 
think it will be substantiated when thoroughly 
inquired into. I have seen cases where you 
have said : "Eureka ! we have accomplished it; 
it is no more here," but in the course of two or 
three weeks they found some. That is a great 
misfortune. Mr. CooVce has had favorable con- 
ditions. He has had trees eight or ten feet 
high. He trimmed them himself and had a 
small territory, and he has, as he believed, 
eradicated it. I hope it is true, but we have 
trees here that are SO feet high, and it is almost 
an impossibility for the spray to touch every 
animal, but if you can it kills it. And it is 
not only necessary to spray the trees, but 
you must have some way to prevent the scale 
bag from ascending again; that is what we are 
trying to do, and every little while we find 
something that we think has accomplished the 
end. We have not quite succeeded yet. I 
have belief that it can be done, but up to this 
date we have not done it yet: to be able to say 
that we have wiped it out in any one place as 
a permanent proposition. 



It is true that the cottony cushion scale is 
easier killed than any other scale bug; it is 
easier handled than any other that I know of, 
and I believe that in time j'ou can entirely de- 
stroy it. As it stands, I do not fear it a great 
deal except as a matter of expense. I have 
heard some of my neighbors say that even the 
expense they were at in spraying was of such 
benefit in the brightening of their fruit and of 
the growth of the trees, that in the end the 
work we are doing will pay. That we can 
keep it under so that it will be of no permanent 
injury is true, but, of course, we would be glad 
to avail ourselves of any remedy that would do 
the work and have it done with forever. I will 
say to Mr. Milco that seven cents a gallon for 
his preparation will not be a bar to our use of 
it, but it must be proven that one application 
will be the end of it, for we have now remedies 
that are much cheaper. 

Mr. Milco: I will say, as Mr. Rose touched 
on the subject, that if Mr. Cooke can be paid 
by Los Angeles county for his expenses to come 
down here and make some experiments, at any 
time we will furnish all the material free of 
charge. 

Mr. Rose: I will assure him his expenses 
will be paid. I will pay my portion of it, and 
pay half of it if he will do it. There will be no 
question about the expense. 

Dr. Conger: I have great admiration for Mr. 
Rose, but however skillful any one person may 
be in any special line, in something that he has 
but little experience in he is about as liable to 
err as a novice, possibly. Now, Mr. Rose has 
an immense tract of land, he has probably the 
largest orange orchard in Southern California, 
and it is a puzzle to a great many how it can be 
carried on by one brain. It is very extensive, 
and unfortunately the red scale and the white 
scale have taken possession of a large portion, 
especially the red scale. I am quite well aware 
of his experiment in cutting away the trees 
along that noble drive leading up to his house 
some years ago to eradicate the scale, but in my 
opinion after he had treated those trees as he 
related, had he eradicated them from the bal- 
ance of his orchard they never would have re- 
turned to those trees. I think there is where 
the error comes in. I hardly think there is a 
question about that, that after treating that 
avenue the scale bug was yet existent in the 
other portions or his orchard, and, of course, it 
is on its way back to those trees that were so 
thoroughly treated. The red scale is confined 
to only a few localities in this section of the 
county. In the southern portion of the county 
it is quite persistent and is exciting a good deal 
of interest. In the section which I represent — 
that is Pasadena — we have not had the red 
scale, but we have had the cottony cushion 
scale, and it has fallen to my lot to be the 
guardian of that district. The first tree I 
found on my place, I raised a rumpus about, 
and went to the paper and advertised it, and 
of course I had all Pasadena on my shoulders; 
they said you are going to destroy Pasadena 
by publishing that you had the cottony cushion 
scale; fortunately I was not selling real estate, 
and I did not care very much how those who 
were giving their entire attention to selling lots 
were disposed to growl because I was finding 
that in my orchard. I immediately went down 
to my tree and cut the top entirely away — that 
is to say, I cut it so as to leave the branches 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



sticking up so [experimenting with his fingers], 
preserving the contour of the top of the tree; 
but I cut away every limb and every leaf, and 
then I got simple, common soap and water and 
scrubbed it down — every portion of it. I laid 
down a canvas around the tree and put every 
branch as I cut it off on that canvas and carried 
down some hay and built a bonfire and burned 
all the brush on that canvas in that bonfire. 
Then I took a shovel and dug up the soil for, 
say three inches, all around that tree and burned 
the soil and shook the hot ashes around the sur- 
face of the ground and went home. That was 
the last of May, and there has not any scale- 
bug appeared since. Now the tree has a fine 
top, some of the limbs are an inch or more in 
diameter, and there are no signs of the cottony 
cushion scale at all: yet that tree was literally 
alive with them. I state this for the purpose 
of showing that there is a remedy. That is the 
point; but it may take as much brain as kero- 
sene or potash to eradicate the scale or any- 
thing else. Now, I pretend to say that there 
is not a white scale in California on an infested 
tree but that can be eradicated from it by that 
simple process, and it didn't cost half, probably, 
what is being expended every day in the week 
on things that are killing the trees as well as 
the bugs. I relate this to show that there is a 
remedy. There are other remedies, in my judg- 
ment. In a little orchard where we supposed that 
the scale had its first lodging in Pasadena, Mrs. 
Black'sorchard.wefound 110 treesbadly infested. 
It fell to my lot to attend to those trees and 
see that those bugs were eradicated. A gentle- 
man loaned me a spraying apparatus, and we 
together got up a mixture different, somewhat, 
from anything I had ever heard of at that time. 
In the first place I had the tops of about 60 of 
the worst trees entirely cut away as I had my 
own and treated in the same way precisely. I 
think a little coal oil was used in that mixture 
for scrubbing the trunks down. The balance 
of the 110 trees were thinned out and sprayed 
with 14 pounds of caustic soda and four or five 
pounds of common soap to the hundred gallons 
of water. The soda cost us six cents a pound 
wholesale, so the expense was scarcely a penny 
a gallon. To but two of the trees that were 
cut away and thoroughly washed did the scale 
ever return up to four weeks ago; the others 
are perfectly free to this day. Of the balance of 
the trees, where the tops were not entirely cut 
away, I found 18 that had a few scales on a few 
weeks ago and I ordered those sprayed again. 
Now, the point that I make is this: it is, as 
Mr. Rose says, almost impossible to reach every 
portion of the tree with any material that you 
may use; and there is where the difficulty lies; 
tben if you wanted to spray the trees repeatedly 
with a strong solution you are going to kill 
your trees; and why? Every time that you 
spray with a strong solution you are checking 
the flow of sap, you are .interfering with its 
vitality, you are interfering with its functiong, 
hence if you repeat that once a week, as some 
have suggested, you constantly keep the tree 
back and it will lose its vitality, and if it does 
not kill it outright it will very seriously interfere 
with its vigor, whereas, if you cut the top of the 
tree away at the outset and use the simplest 
material, you get rid of all the scale there is. 
You destroy the last one, and by watching a 
little along for the next two or three months, 
there is no necessity of any scale returning to 



any of those trees. There may be a few in the 
soil. A cultivator never should be used about 
those trees, for the insects pre carried by the 
teeth of the cultivator from one tree to 
another, and some persons may go in an 
orchard and carry it from one to another. 
But if you watch the trees they generally lodge 
two or three feet from the surface of the ground 
and, of course, you can kill them at once. Now, 
here is a solution that costs scarcely a penny a 
gallon that will kill this white scale. I use 
caustic soda, which costs less than anything 
else, and in the solution that I make, instead 
of clear water I use a saturated solution of lime 
water. Potash, of course, would be better than 
soda because of its fertilizing value, but it costs 
a little more than sal-soda. It only takes a 
quarter of a pound of lime to make a gallon of 
lime water, so you see it is comparatively inex- 
pensive; and the lime itself will destroy the 
fungus and some other things, especially if you 
put in a pound or two of soap, and with your 
caustic soda you have got a solution that costs 
you a trifle over a penny a gallon, if it does 
that, and most assuredly, gentlemen, it will de- 
stroy the white scale. I cannot speak as to the 
red scale as I have never tried it. It is an en- 
tire remedy for the black scale, although I must 
say that something has occurred in California 
this year that has destroyed the black scale en- 
tirely. In Pasadena and Orange and the places 
I have visited we cannot find living specimens 
of the black scale. I wish to suggest to people 
who have the white scale that the quickest, 
and surest, and safest method is to cut the top 
away. It puts it right out, and in a few years 
you will have a crop of fruit on it, and with 
less trouble and less expense; and I believe the 
vitality of the tree would be subserved by that 
method. 

Mr. Cooper : I would like to ask what the 
expense would be to treat an orchard in that 
way? 

Dr. Conger : I paid 15 cents a tree for the 
spraying of that solution. In cutting back and 
pruning up I do not remember exactly; I think 
for the whole work it was about $100 for the 
100 trees, cutting the tops away, scrubbing 
them down and burning the brush — the entire 
work. 

Mr. J. W. Sallee : I want to say a few 
words about the red scale. I have just returned 
from the southern part of the county, and have 
talked with a great many fruit-raisers about the 
eradication of the red scale. They have almost 
universally come to this conclusion : that to 
undertake to kill a red scale after it has ma- 
tured and thoroughly attached to the leaf and 
fruit is almost impossible. It is a scale that 
attaches itself very closely to the fruit, so that 
it is almost impossible to reach it with any 
known solution, and it will hatch four times — 
four generations in a year. When the young 
bug first comes out it crawls around for a 
couple of weeks, and in that stage it is very 
easily killed, and it is the conclusion of all that 
I talked with, that to kill the red scale you 
must spray often enough to catcli the young 
bugs on foot with a solution that will not cost 
more than 25 cents a tree to spray in the 
foliage, without cutting the top. Mr. Joel 
Parker has some trees that have been infested 
with the red scale for four years. He has only 
sprayed once during each year until this year, 
and he has preserved both the tree and the fruit. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



13 



while his neighbors, who have not sprayed at 
all, have lost the tops of their trees, and last 
year the crop of fruit, 

A Delegate: You speak of orange trees? 

Mr. Sallee: The red scale does not infect de- 
ciduous trees, and these trees I speak about are 
orange trees exclusively. Had they sprayed 
four or six tim 53 a year at the expense of 25 
cents a tree that would be only $1.50 a tree, 
and if it had been done this year- the fruit on 
the tree would have more than paid all the ex- 
penses and given a handsome return to the 
owner besides. They have come to the conclu- 
sion that if they spray frequently, catching the 
young bugs on foot, they can eradicate them 
entirely, and it nannofc be done in any other 
way, and they spray with caustic soda, as rec- 
ommended by the last speaker. 

Dr. Conger: I wish to add what I have 
omitted: that the solution of 14 pounds of caus- 
tic soda to the hundred gallons would injure 
the fruit to such an extent that it would make 
it unmarketable. The necessity or the advisa- 
bility of cutting away the top of the tree at the 
outset is because if you have to spray them 
continuously, as you have to unless you cut off 
very materially, you destroy the fruit by spray- 
ing with a solution that will kill the bug. That 
is the fact, 

Mr, Sallee: It does not require a strong solu- 
tion to kill the young bug when it is crawling; 
before it attaches itself to the tree or the fruit, 

A Delegate: Hot weather seems to be more 
conducive to the growth of the red scale than 
cool weather, while cool damp weather is con- 
ducive to the black scale. This season has been 
a prolific one for the red scale. The means of 
spreading the scale from one orchard to another 
is a matter we ought to consider. It has been 
suggested that birds carry the scale and it is 
very probable that in building nests as they are 
sometimes allowed to do in trees, will start a 
growth of scale on a particular tree that will 
spread to an adjoining tree. At our last horti- 
cultural meeting in Orange we passed a series 
of resolutions aimed at the honey bee; some are 
very positive in their ideas that the honey 
bee is one of the greatest means of spreading 
the small scale (the red scale and possibly the 
white scale), and we resolved as the sense of 
our meeting that the apiaries should be removed 
to the mountains beyond the reach of the or- 
chard. It has been discovered in some cases 
where small orchards were just beginning to 
bear, that only those trees that had blossoms 
were infested with the red scale, while others 
surrounding them that had not blossomed yet 
had none at all. That led us to conclude that 
the scale was carried by the bees as they visited 
the blossoms. If that is a fact it is a question 
of interest to be considered: because when an 
orchard is once clean it ought not to be again 
replanted with the scale by the bees or the 
birds. We are all friends of the birds, but if 
they are going to attack our means of livelihood, 
we will have to attack them also. 

Mr, Goepper, of Santa Ana: I think that 
Mr, Sallee is mistaken about the red scale 
not going on any trees but citrus trees. At 
our last meeting at Orange a gentleman there 
stated he has found the Italian cypress trees 
thickly covered with them, I didn't see it my- 
self, but there are other gentlemen here that 
heard the statement and remember his name, 

Mr. Sallee: I have seen the red scale on 



other trees, but I have never seen them appear 
to breed on those trees. They seem to have 
been carried there after they had hatched, I 
don't think that they hatch on any other trees 
except citrus trees, 

Mr. Milco: Last summer a fruitgrower in 
your vicinity, in San Joaquin came to me and 
said he had 12 acres of common prune trees 
and there seemed to be thousands of the San 
Jose scale running at large all over the trees. 
He asked me to come over and make some ex- 
periments with buhach. I drove over to his 
place with a small quantity of the powder of 
buhach and made a solution at the rate of 50 
gallons of water to a pound of buhach, which 
would cost about a cent a gallon (if a person 
were buying it in large quantities), and I sprayed 
three or four trees, just for an experiment, and 
told the gentleman that I would come over 
again and examine those trees and bring a mi- 
croscope and see what the result was. Before 
we sprayed the trees they were perfectly alive 
with living scale about the size of chicken-lice; 
you could fairly see them with the naked eye. 
The next time we came there and cut off a 
piece of a tree about as big as a silver five-cent 
piece and placed it under a powerful micro- 
scope, and I dare say there was a thousand 
dead insects on it — some of them stuck to the 
bark and others hanging in every shape — but 
dead; not moving. In three or four days after 
that, the same man come back again and said, 
"You have not killed the scale-bug at all; they 
are creeping all over the tree." It is a fact, as 
the preceding speaker has said, that these 
scales are coming out in several breeds; a lot of 
them may come out to day and another lot next 
day and so on for eight or ten days, and while 
they are coming out in that way I don't think 
there will be any trouble to kill them. And 
that applies not only to the San Jose scale, but 
to every other insect that is moving, A solu- 
tion of buhach will do it without any danger to 
the tree, the foliage or the fruit. 

Mr. Sallee: I want to make one more sug- 
gestion on the subject and I will illustrate it by 
cultivation. No orchardist would undertake to 
cultivate his orchard once in a year ajid let it go 
for the rest of the time because the weeds will 
spring up, he must go frequently and kill those 
weeds as they come; neither does he want to 
buy a steam engine to do his cultivating: he 
wants the cheapest material he can work with. 
It is just so with the scale bug; if we expect to 
eradicate the red scale especially we must do it 
by frequent application of a cheap spray that 
will kill them and a very cheap spray will kill 
them when they are on foot; but when they are 
attached it is not wise to try to kill them. As 
Mr, Rose has said there are many failures 
though many have been killed, and if left alone 
they will in a very short time, cover the entire 
tree. It has been well said that the price of or- 
anges is eternal vigilance, 

Mr, Garey: This whole scale bug question 
is a matter of experiment in the State of Cali- 
fornia and will be for a good long time. One 
man is using one solution, another man is using 
another; one a certain emulsion and another 
another emulsion and so on, and so the matter 
is experimental. We will be in this experimen- 
tal stage for a considerable length of time, and 
tliere is this about that: in this matter of ex- 
periment we must be careful not to ruin our or- 
chards nor to bankrupt ourselves ; we cannot 



14 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



afford I think to spray our trees six times a 
year at the cost of 25 cents a tree each time. It 
looks very well on paper to sit down and figure 
out how much your orchard, your crop will 
bring you, and that if we spray and save our 
crop it will bring so much money and we will 
have so much left, but the solid facts are that it 
costs ^160 per annum on that plan just for the 
one item ofjspraying our trees. We cannot afford 
it; orange orchards will be a thing of the past 
in a few years if we have got to continue that 
year after year; we must find a cheap and ef- 
fective remedy that will do its work if possible 
at one operation, and that will do it thoroughly 
and effectually so that we have some time to 
rest; some time to recuperate. To-day we are 
told there are effective remedies that run from 
one penny to seven cents a gallon; that is a 
wide range. iSlow, then, if the penny remedy is 
effective, that is the thing we are after, for we 
must get down to a cheap and efiicient remedy. 
The Board of Supervisors of this county have 
offered as a premium or reward $1000 to be 
given to the party who will invent 
and apply a cheap and safe and efficient 
remedy for the destruction of the cottony 
cushion scale. Some of us want that $1000, and 
I hope some of us will get it, for that is what 
we must have. There are men in this county 
that can afford to pay $50, $75 or $100 an acre to 
clear up their orchard, because they have some- 
thing else, but I tell you, Mr. President, there 
is not one man in ten in Los Angeles, or any 
other county, that can afford anything of the 
kind. You may take and cut a tree off, denude 
it completely of branches and leaves and every- 
thing down to the bare trunk, and take nothing 
in the world but a bucketful of water and a 
certain amount of elbow-grease, and commence 
at the top and work that right through from 
the top to the bottom, and you will kill every 
white scale on it: that you will do by mere man- 
ual force, and a man can do about 20 or 25 trees 
a day, I think, after the limbs are cut off. I 
just speak of this to show that it can be done. 
Here is Mr. Conger, and my friend who sits on 
the right, who manages the Cascarona orchard 
of 1500 tr^es, in this city, who has had a great 
deal of practical experience, and who has suc- 
ceeded in using common refuse soap that was 
formerly worth nothing, and is now sold at a 
cent and a half a pound. With this material 
and a scrubbing-brush, and the willing power of 
his good right hand, he has gone to work and 
cleared this place, and now it is perfectly 
clean. As Mr. Rose says, the white scale is 
very easily killed, very easily handled. He is 
very niuch mistaken about the last part of it. 
It is veiy easily killed, but it is the hardest 
bug to handle, so far as the entire destruction 
of it is concerned. There are very few reme- 
dies that don't kill a scale bug; the'trouble is, 
you don't get it on all of them and they increase 
so fast and crawl up the tree again. I would 
like to hear from Mr. George Rice, the Secre- 
tary of the Commission for this section. He is 
a practical man, and; one who has had a great 
deal of experience. 

County Commissions. 
George Rice : The Horticultural Commis- 
sion is appointed by the Board of Supervisors, 
as provided in the State law, and every county 
in the State can have such a commission. I 
don't believe any other county has appointed 
one; has there, Mr. Chapin ? 



Dr. Chapin: There are quite a number of 
counties that have appointed county Boards of 
horticultural commissioners. Some of them 
have recently appointed new members to fill 
vacancies which have existed by natural drop- 
ping out and the time expiring for which the 
commisbioners were appointed. Ventura is one 
county; San Diego has lately appointed a new 
commission, and Kern county has done so. 
There are other counties that have commissions, 
but they are not working accurately, and 
in fact it has been owing to some misunder- 
standing as to what they may be permitted to 
do under the county lav/s, and without coming 
in contact with the State law on the subject. A 
little further on, if it is desired, I will express 
the views which some have taken upon that 
subject, and which would open a practical way 
for perfect harmony and for a very effectual 
method of performing this work. 

Mr. Rice: I presume one reason that the 
commissions of different counties are not effect- 
ive is because the Supervisors have not appro- 
priated any money for them. This county ap- 
propriated a sum for the expenses of the com- 
missioners and the inspectoi's. This commission 
has been in existence four months; we have 
written to evex'y spot on the globe where they 
have the cottony cushion scale or any other 
scale, for their remedies. We have received 
papers from Australia and India, and had cor- 
respondence with the department of Washing- 
ton and Prof. Riley and his assistants, and we 
have compiled everything on that subject that 
we could get; every man in Los Angeles city 
that has a remudy, and every man that has an 
orchard has a remedy (and a good many of 
them have different remedies to try), and we 
have seen the orchard where the remedy has 
been tried. The law does not compel any man to 
use the remedy recommended by this commission 
on the start, j^roviding he kills the scale bug, and 
this commission has been only desirous of kill- 
ing the scale bug without reference to the rem- 
edy or the expense, except that we prefer it to 
be done economically on account of the 
orchardists. We have recommended two or 
three different things; we have changed twicej 
once from whale oil soap to common brown 
soap, simply to cheapen it and because the 
whale oil soap spoilt the fruit, and our object 
was to kill the scale bug- We know of no rem- 
edy so far that we believe is better than the 
kerosene emulsion that is recommended by 
Prof. Riley, and that has been in existence for 
several years. We have made some changes in 
the strength; we have added potash and some 
use it with and some without. I believe I could 
name 20 remedies that will kill the scale, but 
the only point is to put the remedy on the bug. 
I believe that this bug is to be exterminated 
more by main strength and a great deal of awk- 
wardness than by any particular remedy. I 
hope that the $1000 reward that the county 
Supervisors have offered will call out a remedy 
that will in some way exterminate them, but I 
doubt about such a thing being reached I 
doubt that I or any of us will live to see the 
scale bug exterminated in this county. I will 
tell you why: A and B, and you may go down 
to the last letter of the alphabet, will extermi- 
nate the scale in their orchards, but this dili- 
gent man, Z, he is always in the center, and he 
keeps enough to supply the neighbors, and 
about the time they think the scale bug is ex- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



15 



terminated, they are not paying so much atten- 
tion to it, they are not spraying so often, and 
the first thing they know they have got the 
scale bug back again. This scale bug is on the 
ground, it is in the woods, it is everywhei-e. 
We have not found a plant of any description 
or kind but what it goes on; it seems to be 
fond of everything. Now, the remedy is, as I 
said before, everything: and it has really a 
comical side. We have ti-amped all over this 
town, hunting these remedies; only the day 
before yesterday a man came to our office, and 
he had a sure thing that would eradicate the 
scale — quite an intelligent man; we apppointed 
the next morning at 9 o'clock to be at his place, 
and we went down where there were two or 
three trees about as high as my head, and he 
showed the trees he had been experimenting 
on. He had dipped a feather in the remedy 
and touched each particul&r scale bug. This is 
a sample of the remedy. We could have 
killed the scale bug on that tree with a 
dish rag, because it was a very small tree, 
but they are not all dead on it yet, I could 
name a good many other such experiments. 
We have some other gentlemen here who are 
experimenting and I would like to have them 
tell their own stories. 

With respect to fumigating a great many per- 
sons seem to think that by treating the tree as 
Mr. Rose suggested a while ago, that they could 
kill every scale bug on the tree and likely those 
on the ground under the tree, but I don't know 
what to say, to tell you the truth, except this, 
and that is vigilance and work. There is no 
trouble about killing the scale bug on the tree 
by the proprietor of the place where he is inter- 
ested and intelligent. He could make an emul- 
sion or he could apply hot water that is hot 
when it reaches the bug, or he could apply a 
hundred other diiferent remedies t9 kill them 
and exterminate them, but his negligent neigh- 
bor brings them back again; he forgets 
that there are a few weeds that are infes- 
ted with them on while the rest of the orchard 
is clean, and he gets them back again. There 
is a Utile something about this that may be 
pleasing in this discussion: you go in the exhibi- 
tion hall and I will show you the first clean 
fruit I ever saw in Los Angeles. They have all 
had a trademark. There are one or two sam- 
ples that have that trademark still from or- 
chards that have been thoroughly sprayed; we 
have calculations in our orchards from a reli- 
able gentleman who gave us the figures that the 
difference in the price of his crop of clean fruit 
last year and what it was a year before a good 
deal more than paid for the expenses of clean- 
ing his trees, and paid him a handsome outlay 
over and above the expenses. I believe if we 
could have a little show of the scale bug in the 
top of the tree to keep the farmer continuously 
cleaning his trees and make him keep the tree 
clean, those who grow citrus fruits may still 
find it an advantage so that they might keep on 
cleaning if they had not a scale bug in the 
world. However, I am very anxious to eradi- 
cate this scale ; but, as I said before, it needs 
intelligent work. If only one man did his own 
work it would soon be ended, but the proprietor 
goes ahead and makes experiments and goes 
about his business and the Chinaman sprays 
along leisurely, and I could tell you about a 
dozen orchards where the commissioners 
dropped in to see how they were getting along 



with the work and they were simply playing; 
the men know nothing about the subject what- 
ever. They were not spraying, they were spend- 
ing the money on the orchard, but they were 
simply fooling. Frequently gentlemen would 
come along and say that stuff does not kill, and 
we have gone to see the orchard to see what 
was the matter and invariably found a 
man with a single action pump and a Chinaman 
with a bucketful of spray pumping it onto the 
top of a tree 30 feet high, and, of course, it was. 
not effectual, 

Mr, Garey: What kind of scale was it on the 
tree? Where it was that the party figured that 
the improved price of the fruit paid for the 
cleaning ? 

Mr. Rice: The black scale, and we have an 
instance of the cottony cushion scale this year. 
They e timate that they can get a better price 
for the oranges this year. 

Dr. Congar: I would like to add one word 
on the difference of materials, the reason why 
we should reject one material and select others. 
Caustic soda is used frequently to eradicate 
ulcers; it is used as a caustic in its full sense on 
the human flesh. Why? Because the moment 
that the pure article touches the hriman flesh it 
burns it and causes a scar; if you don't neutral- 
ize it, it will burn to the bone. It don't stop 
there, it will burn the bone itself. It is literally 
a fire; that is the property of caustic potash or 
caustic soda. Now you understand the use of 
the material; why it kills. It touches the more 
delicate membrane of the animal, the cottony 
scale or whatever scale you are treating, and 
the moment you touch it it burns just as you 
burn the human flesh — it literally burns them 
up. Now you take kerosene, or coal oil as it is 
called, of high test; it is used by mothers about 
their children's necks for croup, diphtheria and 
other things; you can use it upon your hand for 
a sprain as a liniment; it never burns; it will 
create excitement or irritation, but it has not 
the power of caustic soda at all. Wo want to 
make a distinction between the remedies we are 
employing, so that we can understand when we 
use it what we may expect .from it and make 
the strength accordingly, so that we do not kill 
the tree. The moment you touch the tree with 
the oil it will kill it; that is why I prefer caus- 
tic potash or caustic soda to all these other rem- 
edies. 

Dr. Lockspeitch, of Orange: I am a practi- 
cal man of seven years in the culture of the 
orange. I have watched the scale bug; that is, 
the black scale first; secondly, I have watched 
the red scale. I commenced to doctor the 
black scale bug and used Mr. Cooke's remedy 
— the worst character of whale oil soap that 
they manufacture in San Francisco — and that 
didn't kill them. Mr. Cooke gave another 
remedy of using the commonest preparation of 
caustic soda, that is, concentrated lye, which 
costs eight and a half cents per pound by the 
case, and only 50 per cent of caustic in it. He 
told us to use it of a certain strength; that 
strength would eat up the valves of the pump 
and almost make soap out of it. Next we com- 
menced with the best article of whale oil soap 
manufactured in Los Angeles. We used it 
one-half pound to a gallon of water, to kill the 
black scale, and sprayed my trees. The next 
year I had a better crop of black scale than I 
had before. That was three years ago, and we 
spent considerable money then, and I assure 



i6 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



you it takes money with the muscle. We then 
bought the best article of Los Angeles soap and 
we used SO pounds to 100 gallons of water, 
and we sprayed in August, and we have not a 
single black scale that we can find on our 
trees. We had not had our attention drawn to 
the red scale, and still it was crawling in upon 
us and we hardly knew we had it. We were 
using, as I say, SO pounds of soap to 100 gal- 
lons of water, that is almost a pound to the 
gallon, and it costs us considerable. It cost 
us over $1500 to spray our orchard, and we 
had not killed the red scale bug, and the ques- 
tion arose. What are we to do? Lots of our 
brothers will certainly fail in the pocket. Mus- 
cle is good, but the money is getting low, so 
we must get something that will hold up 
the money part. The muscle is as strong as 
ever, the will as good as ever, we can spray as 
well as any man in the world, and I challenge 
any man to beat us in spraying the trees, but 
we found that didn't kill the red scale, and if 
it did we couldn't keep it up so as to extermi- 
nate them; so we must get something else. 
Soap is composed of potash and a certain amount 
of grease, that neutralizes the soda, and it is 
-neither grease or soda; your soda does not seem 
to mix well with water and certain prepara- 
tions, and you must find some remedy —some 
way of mixing this caustic soda as not to de- 
stroy its properties entirely, because that is the 
very remedy that will kill your bug. You 
use one sixth part or one-tenth part of the soda 
that the Los Angeles County Board uses in its 
soap; you use it directly upon your trees, and 
it will kill the bugs and will not kill the trees, 
and you can reduce it down to a still finer point 
than that. We have sprayed this year three 
times with a preparation that we do not know 
will kill bugs or not; no man gives us a 
remedy that he knows that will kill bugs; 
everybody has a remedy, but the bugs are get- 
ting thicker and thicker, and how are we going 
to reach them ? I do not propose to tell you my 
remedy until I know it will be efficient, but 
this is the direction : get the caustic or soda 
and reduce it down to that point that it will 
take effect upon the scale bug and not kill your 
trees, and it is the cheapest remedy and most 
direct remedy that can be used for the scale 
bug. I tell you the way we are working at it 
now will not accomplish the destruction of the 
scale bug. We have been washing three years, 
and have scale bugs still on our trees. What 
are we going to do about it ? I say we can do 
it, but xvill we do it is the great question; if we 
can't do it right at once the best and the wis- 
est policy, if we find we have made a mistake 
in planting orange trees, is to dig them up and 
cultivate something else. That is the way I 
look at it. 

A Delegate : Have you tried kerosene emul- 
sions ? 

Dr. Lockspeitch: I have, sir. I have tried 
over 30 remedies. A man approached me the 
other day and said, he had the very thing. 
"What is it?" He said, "Fumigating will do it." 
Three years ago I tried that. I took a tent and 
oiled it thoroughly and spread it over the tree; 
then I had the bugs of different classes and took 
very young chickens and put them into my 
tent. Then I built a fire and I ran the fumes 
into that tent. It did not kill a single live bug 
that I put in there, nor did it kill the little 
chickens, but in two days from the day that I 



did it the tree was as dead as a mackerel. 
That is fumigating with sulphur. I used the 
squirrel remedy also, and I never had any suc- 
cess with it; that is, I killed my bugs, but I also 
killed the tree. 

Mr. Gompere: I shall not say much on this 
insect question from the little experience that I 
have had. When I first started in on the or- 
chard I have charge of, there were only about 
three trees that were infested. For a few days 
we thought we would eradicate the pest and 
say nothing about it. We went to work spray- 
ing our trees on the sly, and before we knew it 
there were some more trees full of them and we 
could not keep it still any longer. Everybody 
wanted to know what we were doing, and fin- 
ally we began to seek information, and tried 
this man's remedy and that man's remedy, and 
then I commenced to try a remedy of my own. 
I took a tent and placed it over a tree, and got 
a couple of my neighbors over there and we 
burned about 15 pounds of sulphur under there 
and let it burn for four hours, and I believe if a 
mule had stuck his head in that tent it would 
have killed him, and it did not kill the scale 
bug; but the minute I removed the canvas the 
sun struck the leaves and they turned white, 
and tbe wind scattered the leaves all over the 
orchard. We commenced spraying again and 
could not get rid of the bugs; there were always 
some left. Finally I went and I topped the tree 
off and I scrubbed the trunk off with 
a brush and common soap. I have 400 
trees that I cleaned in this way and I can say 
are practically clean — that is, since last March. 
But on one side my orchard is full of them 
yet, and on the other side my neighbor's or- 
chard is full, and as a matter of course, they 
will keep coming back. From my experience I 
am satisfied you never will eradicate the scale 
bug otherwise than by taking and removing the 
top of your trees and scrubbing them down by 
hand. If you have to go to work and spray 
your orchard two or three or four times, the 
fruit is not going to pay for the labor. 

A Delegate: Are you following out that sys- 
tem of cleaning out the bugs? 

Mr. Gompere: Yes; I intend' to whenever 
my neighbor gats into the same notion, but if 
he don't, I will have his bugs coming over on 
to me. 

Mr. James Bettner, of Riverside: I have 
listened with a great deal of interest to this 
discussion about the scale-bugs; I fortunately 
come from a portion of the country where, at 
present, we have none — but we can not expect 
to always enjoy that immunity. I have lived 
in this country ever since the scale-bug first 
came here, and have watched its progress. It 
has been said here by several gentlemen that 
this pest has kept on increasing, notwithstand- 
ing all the campaigns that have been carried on 
against it. I think the vital point has been 
touched by Mr. Gompere, who has just sat 
down: that this action, to accomplish anything, 
has got to be universal. Unless universal ac- 
tion is compelled by law, it does not seem to 
me that anything is going to be accomplished 
in the extermination of scale-bugs. They may 
be killed; but a supply is always nearer or 
more remote from you, and it is going to come 
back. I must coufess I would contemplate 
with a great deal of awe the cutting back of my 
orchard to nothing — destroying my crop for 
two years certainly, and probably more than 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



17 



that, with the almost certain apprehension 
that when the two years had elapsed the scale-bug 
would be back again from my neighbor's and I 
would have lost my two-years' crop. Now, 
there have been many remedies suggested 
here, and, no doubt, they all are more or less 
efficacious; and there is no doubt that, by con- 
stant spraying one time and another, the scale- 
bug can be kept in subjection. But the profit 
in fruit-growing is not large enough at present 
— I do not know as it is going to be in the fu- 
ture, to justify the expense of $50 an acre and 
from that up to $100 — as I know some of my 
neighbors have spent in fighting scale bugs. 

Mr. Thomas, of Visalia: I promised this fore- 
noon to speak in reference to the matter of the 
saline mixture in regard to the destruction of 
the San Jose scale and to bring some samples of 
wood, I have them here, and by applying the 
glass, you can see it was entirely killed, noth- 
ing left on it at all after this solution had been 
used. There had been a growth running out 
on these trees from 18 to 30 inches and by ap- 
plying the glass carefully I could not find a live 
insect on any growth that had formed after the 
trees had been washed in a strong brine. This 
was found where a gentleman in the Central 
Colony, Fresno, had applied it on apricot trees 
and some peach and apple in August, and as far 
as I could see the remedy was efifectual, simply 
using the brine as strong as he could make it. 
He applied it by taking a cloth and rubbing the 
tree ; didn't use any spray at all. I do not 
know whether any person else has used it or 
seen it used, 

A Delegate: I tried the salt brine on some 
trees of mine with the spray. It will remove 
the foliage from the tree,^t will kill the tender 
shoots in the tree, and will not kill the bug. 
The only bugs I found it killed was where it was 
killed by the force of the pump; the force itself 
will do it, and you can do it with cold water if 
you have enough force. As fur as salt brine 
killing them is concerned, it will not, 

Mr. Milco: A friend of mine in Stockton, 
Mr. Beers, the banker, told me he saw in an arti- 
cle on the subject in one of our agricultural 
papers from the East, that by placing a handful 
of salt around the roots of the peach trees you 
would remove the borers. He was a little 
afraid at first, but he thought he would put on 
about one half of that and try it. He said in 
about three months there were no more trees. 
They were all dead. That is the result of his 
experience. 

Laws to Prevent Spread of Pests. 

Mr. Milco : I would ask some of our law- 
yers as to the present law. They tell me the 
law has given a great deal of trouble. I think 
the present law is just as efi:ectual as any we 
can make on the subject. The point is they 
have to enforce it. I say let us go ahead and 
enforce the law. 

Mr. Wilcox: This is a very important ques- 
tion, and I think we cannot say too much about 
it. I believe we can destroy the scale. I have 
had my doubts about it at times, but last year 
I had two hours' talk with Prof. Riley at New 
Orleans, and he tells me positively you can kill 
any insect pest that ever existed, anji those who 
heard him lecture went away satisfied that they 
could destroy that pest. The only trouble is, 
can you enforce a law, even if it is a rather 
troublesome and discouraging proposition? For 



instance, this cottony cushion scale appeared in 
Santa Clara township three or four years ago 
within the limits of the town and the trees 
were cut down and burned. The next year I 
saw them northwest, coming directly toward 
my place. They struck the square of the pub- 
lic schoolhouse, and I could not prevail on the 
trustees to cut those trees down and have them 
stop right there. Finally they let them be 
cut and piled them up in the street, and 
strange as it may appear they did not spread 
more from that point. It is unaccountable to 
me why they did not. Those limbs which were 
piled up there were as white as if they were 
covered with snow. They were swept by the 
wind for months, and yet afterwards be less in 
that vicinity than there was at that time. Some 
of the trees have some on now, and then there 
will be a space where there is none at all. It 
is rather discouraging that we cannot enforce 
this law; of course, we have got to have a 
remedy, and I should appeal to the horticul- 
tural officer to know whether they are satisfac- 
tory to him. It is a question whether you can 
enforce any rule unless you can show a jury 
that it is a law founded in right, and that it has 
a practical bearing. 

Dr. Chapin: In regard to the matter of in- 
sect pests and the laws relating to the extirpa- 
tion of them, it has been a serious question be- 
fore the people of the State for several years to 
induce the various Legislatures of the State to 
provide suitable laws, under which this work 
could be effectually done. It has proved, in 
fact, that no Legislature which we have had that 
has treated upon these subjects at all has been 
willing to do all that was necessary in the mat- 
ter, to nphold to uphold the hands of those to 
whom it had delegated certain powers, but yet 
not sufficient to enable them to accomplish the 
work. Moreover, the greatest difficulty of all 
has been thas there has not been a 
provision of money sufficient to secure 
the performance of work. It is to a large 
degree a matter of manual labor and also mental 
labor, and the ove; seeing of the work of those 
who do perform the manual labor. The fact 
has been very apparent all the while, that there 
is a lack of money somewhere to pay these peo- 
ple for their services. If I may be permitted to 
express an opinion in regard to the whole sub- 
ject in one word: it is not a lack of authority to 
proceed, in our present laws, but it is a lack of 
money to pay 'for the necessary work to be 
done. As has been already suggested, the great 
object in this work is to have it done simultane- 
ously over a large section of country; we will 
take Los Angeles for example: this cottony 
cushion scale, so called (the Iscerya purchasi, 
which is the technical and proper name for the 
insect, and it should be known as such), is now 
confined to a certain region of country. It does 
not as yet extend over very many square 
miles, but in order to have this work effect- 
ual in any instance the work must be done 
simultaneously over all the region of country 
thus infested by this insect, and in order to 
accomplish that there must be a provision for 
money for the labor to do the work. It has 
been truly said in this convention that there 
are twenty — yes, a hundred different remedies, 
any one of which is effectual for the destruc- 
tion of this insect pest — provided that the 
work is done all at one time, and then that the 
insects will be reached by the preparation, 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



whatever it may be that is used for their de- 
struction. It can be done by manual labor; by 
many of the very cheapest insecticides, and by 
the most costly ones. It may be done by 
simply reaching every individual insect; and, 
of course, if a few were left untouched by any 
of these different preparations they are ready 
to propagate their species, and the tree and the 
entire neighborhood surrounding becomes _ in- 
fested again. I have come to the conclusion, 
deliberately, that it is not so much the partic- 
ular preparation that is used, and I do not ad- 
vocate any one particular preparation for that 
purpose at all. I care not what people may 
use, provided they will take something that 
will destroy the insects, and provided we all 
work together harmoniously for the accom- 
plishment of that one object, and at one time. 
If people will ever be got to that point and will 
proceed upon that basis they can ex' erminate 
these various pests. Even the coddling-moth 
can be exterminated if it be done in that way; 
but the only way in which the coddling-moth 
can be exterminated in this State or in any lo- 
cality which may he sufficiently isolated to pre- 
vent the spread of the larvte from one point to 
the other, must be by the destruction of the 
fruit upon which this insect feeds. If that 
should be done tor one season, the codlin 
moth would have no fruit upon which to de- 
posit her eggs, and the larvae when hatched 
from the eggs, having nothing to feed upon, 
would die. That is the only way in which that 
insect can be exterminated, though we may 
suppress it to a great degree by careful work, 
I might carry this illustration to many of the 
other insect pests. There has been no test case 
brought forward so as to determine by the pro- 
cess of the courts to what extent our laws are 
constitutional or valid. It is not absolutely 
necessary that that course should be pursued, 
but if it is, there must be a provision of money 
to pay the expenses of carrying on such a 
suit. It has been often hinted and said that 
the State Board of Horticulture ought to do all 
these things. We have no authority given us 
by law to pay the fees of lawyers or the ex- 
penses of court proceedings to test these ques- 
tions. Individuals may take them up and 
carry them forward to such a conclusion, and 
that they have the privilege of doing, but there 
has been a general tendency on the part of all 
concerned as far as possible to avoid the trial 
of such actions. In this county it has been the 
desire and the intention, I believe, of those in 
authority to avoid as far as possible bringing to 
trial these matters to see whether the law is 
valid or not. 

Another suggestion I would make is that 
there must be entire harmony prevailing be- 
tween those in authority. There are state laws 
which are sufficient in their effect to carry for- 
ward this work authoritatively, fully and effect- 
ively, and there are county laws and other or- 
dinances, and where there may be full harmony 
xisting as to the methods by which work shall 
be carried on, it may cause confusion and dis- 
astrous result, instead of the thoroughly effect- 
ive results that are desired. Now, I would 
suggest as I did to the County Board of Super- 
visors of Los Angeles last summer in meeting 
with them here : that they provide the means 
necessary for the carrying on of this important 
work in Los Angeles county, and that they 
work effectively under the laws which are 



already in existence, that by so doing the work 
may be harmoniously carried on, and possibly 
produce the results which we all desire. The 
State laws which govern these matters all rec- 
ognize the County Government Act of 1881, 
which is still upon the statute books of the 
State. There is no conflict of authority be- 
tween the provisions of that act and the sub- 
sequent laws passed by other Legislatures. Of 
course, if a conflict should exist, then that in 
so far as that is concerned, becomes null and 
void, but wherein there is no conflict, work 
under that law can be carried on, and in order 
that the officers who are there named may be 
paid for their services (for no man will work 
without compensation in some direction for his 
services), I suggest that they work under their 
County Government Act, appointing county 
commissioners, and these commissioners in turn 
appointing local inspectors from the number of 
quarantine guardians which had already or pre- 
viously been appointed in accordance with the 
law relating to the extirpation of fruit pests, 
and in that way paying for the services of those 
guardians, and at the same time giving them a 
legal standing which would enable them to go 
without any warning or any request of any 
person, but by virtue of their own authority, 
onto the premises of any person and examine 
the fruit trees there, or any other trees that 
might harbor insect pests, and directing that 
they should be cared for — be treated in such a 
manner as might be prescribed, providing the 
parties themselves fail to do the work with any 
remedy that they might prefer previous to that. 
Now, I think this work should be carried on in 
full sympathy with this plan, and I think that 
we have all the legal authority that is neces- 
sary in the matter, and if money is provided in 
that way the work can be accomplished as to 
give the utmost satisfaction to all the people of 
the State. 

Mr. Shinn, of Alameda county: I had pre- 
pared a resolution which I thought of offering 
at the conclusion of the last discussion touching 
this point, and I will with permission read it, 
as it may form something of a basis for discus- 
sion, or at least it may limit discussion some- 
what, since it is pretty generally admitted that 
the laws we already have are in the main suf- 
ficient to govern the case, provided we pursue 
the proper course; but if that be not so and if 
the fruit interests of the State are what we sup- 
pose them to be, it is a matter of enough im- 
portance to occupy the attention of the Legis- 
lature, Perhaps after hours of discussion we 
may not arrive at anything more definite than to 
say that if the present Inws are effective we will 
execute them, as it has been suggested by Dr. 
Chapin. There is a point that needs to be agi- 
tated, and that is the lack of money to carry 
out the laws as they should be carried out, and 
my resolution is simply to this effect: Re- 
solved, as the sense cf this convention, that we 
must have the money to carry out this act, and 
the Legislature must authorize the counties or 
municipalities to make such appropriation under 
the cover of law. We must have the quaran- 
tine protection, and the men who are do- 
ing the work must be go-ahead, live men, 
with authority to do all they can to eradicate 
these pests. 

The Chairman: I would add two other 
points to this resolution; that is, that it is the 
sense of this convention that the scale bug can 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



19 



be eradicated; 2d, that this can be done only 
by universal and simultaneous action in the in- 
fested district. 

The amendments were accepted. 
Mr. Bettner: I would like to ask Dr. Cha- 
pin if in his opinion the fruit growers of this 
State could not ask the Legislature for an ap- 
propriation? I would like to offer a resolution 
that it is the sense of this convention that such 
an appropriation should be made. 

Mr. Garey: I think if I understand the 
matter we have a State law that provides for a 
quarantine, and provides for the Board of Su- 
pervisors at the request of five taxpayers to ap- 
point a commission, and that the inspectors ap- 
pointed by such Board shall be the same par- 
ties, it being arranged between them, that 
is appointed by the State officer as guar- 
dian, and in that roundabout way they 
can get due compensation for their work from 
the Board of Supervisors from the several coun- 
ties. It seems to me that the act of legislation 
that we need now is a direct law providing for 
the compensation of the guardians. The law is 
only inoperative because it does not provide for 
compensation. We need an appropriation by 
the State for the purpose of enabling us to ex- 
terminate this pest, and to ask the Legislature 
now to pass a law on the subject when we al- 
ready have a law that we have never under- 
taken to enforce, does not look well. 

Mr. Shinn: It was not the object of my 
resolution to ask for a law that we already have, 
but, as explained by Dr. Chapin, it was that 
that law should be backed by a sufficient appro- 
priation to put it into effect, and not by any 
roundabout method. 

A Delegate: If I understand the law, it is 
effective and satisfactory; all we need is to have 
the backbone of our Supervisors braced up a 
little. We have filed our claims for our county 
and it has been allowed out of the general fund, 
the same as any other appropriation. Why 
should we go before the Legislature again? We 
have under our county Government bill an am- 
ply sufficient law, the same as any other law. 
If Mr Garey's horse has the glanders,'the Board 
of Supervisors can appoint a commission and go 
and investigate that matter, and kill his horse 
instantly, and Mr. Garey can't help it. If we 
look upon this as a common nuisance, I think it 
is operative; all we lack is action on the part 
of the Board of Supervisors. 

Dr. Chapin: A fatal mistake was made in 
the matter by our last Legislature in not making 
provision for the payment of the quarantine 
guardians for their services. It was against 
my protest that the bill was introduced in the 
manner in which it was. Senator Whitney of 
Alameda county introduced the bill, and know- 
ing that he was to do so, I requested him per- 
sonally to postpone the introduction of the bill 
until certain changes could be made in it, with 
reference to that very matter of providing com- 
pensation for the quarantine guardians (officers 
which it proposed to appoint), and stating that 
unless that was done it would prove ineffective; 
it would kill the actual work which it was de- 
sired to carry out. But Mr. Whitney intro- 
duced the bill the very next morning, the mo- 
ment the President gave the opportunity for 
the introduction of bills, and no opportunity 
was given to any person to suggest any changes. 
Then the argument was used, and carried out 
by a number who were friends of the measure ' 



in the Senate and in the Assembly, that it 
would not be wise at all to attempt any changes 
or amendments to the bill for fear that they 
might defeat entirely the passage of any bill 
that might help us. As I said in the first place, 
the Legislature haven't been willing to do all 
that was necessary, but they have done enough, 
so that in this roundabout way, as Mr. Garey 
has suggested, it could be ttill made effective 
provided the Supervisors would do their 
duty: and I must say, without any 
qualification whatever, that Boards of Supervis- 
ors in the different counties of the State — and I 
do not refer to Los Angeles particularly, but I 
include that with all the other counties of 
the State — must be given credit for hav- 
ing done a great deal. They have devoted a 
large sum of money to that purpose, and I feel 
they should receive the thanks of the commun- 
ity — but there has been the disposition on the 
part of those of all the counties of the State to 
guard against the waste of money, and in their 
great care to guard against waste they have 
permitted themselves to go to the other extreme 
and haven't had the courage, the moral stability 
of purpose, to say that this money shall be de- 
voted to this purpose. We, as fruit-growers of 
the State and taxpayers, have the right to de- 
mand that they shall do these things. There is 
where the greatest difficulty exists in my mind; 
if the Supervisors of the different counties will 
furnish the money by their votes to carry on 
this work it can be done effectively in the very 
way in which we are working, under the very 
laws that we have now. 

Mr. Rice : In reference to the law that we 
have, and are working under in this county, it 
seems to be effective. We have not had a test 
case. We have not tried particularly to get 
a test case, but in three instances where we 
had determined to make a test, when ^the time 
came the parties having the scale bugs came 
out and cleaned them up. I wish to say one 
word on behalf of the Supervisors of this county, 
that they have answered the call of the mass 
meeting held in this city of the principal fruit- 
growers of the county, asking certain appropri- 
ations; that they have, so far as it was possible 
for them to do it, met every claim and given 
every dollar asked for, though probably in not 
exactly the terms that was asked. The expense 
bills last month were something over $800. 
They were asked to offer a reward of $1000 for 
some sure cure, and they did it at once. I 
simply state this in defense of our Supervisors, 
so that the strangers may know that we are in 
dead earnest down here, and I would say, also, 
in regard to the County Board and the guar- 
dians appointed by our State Board, the guar- 
dians of the State were appointed as inspectors, 
so that we work under both laws, and we think 
that there is no doubt but what it is effective, 
and so do the people that have scale bugs. 

Mr. Aiken, of Santa Cruz : In listening to 
this talk about the laws, it is very clear to me 
that the law is as good as it can be drawn ; 
there can be no hope of an appropriation from 
the Legislature. I was up there during the time 
that this bill was under discussion and I am 
certain that no appropriation could have been 
obtained — not a dollar. The theory upon which 
an appropriation would be asked would be, that 
the city of San Francisco and the mountain 
counties where they raise no fruit, should be 
taxed to kill the cottony cushion scale in Los 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



Angeles, and the San Jose scale at San Jose. It 
is very doubtful whether the Legislature would 
ever appropriate money from all the taxpayers 
of the State for these local purposes, so the law 
as it is drawn, placed the power to appropriate 
just where it belongs in the hands of the Super- 
visors of the county. They know the needs of 
their counties, and they can appropriate the 
money belonging to the counties, and if this law 
is only enforced, I would say, go ahead ; there 
are no obstacles in the way; take possession of 
a man's orchard by force if you choose. If he 
thinks you have damaged him let him com- 
mence a suit himself for damages. Let him en- 
join you when you take possession of the trees 
and the burden is on him. You do not need 
any test case at all; they may carry it to the 
Superior Court and pay all bills; let him do it, 
but let us simply stand firm and make a brave 
front. As to the question about the constitu- 
tionality of the law, there is nothing in it. It 
is in the power of the Legislature to pass it, and 
no Superior Court in this State, as I should 
judge, would ever declare it unconstitutional. 
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 
That act of the Legislature is constitutional un- 
til it is declared by the highest court in this 
State to be unconstitutional; so that being the 
case, enforce the law; appropriate that money 
by the Board of Supervisors, and if anybody 
wants to fight, let them do the fighting. 

Dr. Chapin: I would like to make an ex- 
planation in connection with questions concern- 
ing the Supervisors and their duties in this mat- 
ter. While the Supervisors of some counties are 
in sympathy with this movement and are will- 
ing to aid by their votes or their voices in fur- 
nishing money for the carrying on of the work, 
yet there are other Supervisors of other coun- 
ties that are not willing to give this encourage- 
ment. President Cooper has just told me that 
those of Santa Barbara county are not willing 
to do this. Consequently, while those of Los 
Angeles may be willing to do all they can in 
in reference to carrying out this work of 
destruction of the cottony cushion scale, 
yet the Supervisors of Santa Barbara county, 
lacking in that intention and willingness, will 
continue the cottony cushion scale at Santa 
Barbara, and in due course of time — supposing 
we were honestly free from it here by our care- 
ful and expensive work — we would become in- 
vaded again by that pest from Santa Barbara. 
Going right to my own home, I might say al- 
most the same thing with regard to our Super- 
visors in Santa Clara county. They have not 
been willing to do their duty in this matter of 
the insect pests, and there has not been a single 
Board of Supervisors since I have lived in that 
county that has been willing to undertake the 
work of providing any adequate compensation 
to the officers carrying out this work and which 
power rests with the Supervisors. I would be 
heartily in favor of a law in connection 
with this matter which should place the au- 
thority of directing the work in one body 
as the law now does in the State Board 
of Agriculture, but yet the Boards of 
Supervisors in the different counties seem to 
think that they have power granted them to 
provide ordinances under which they may ap- 
point officers to carry on this work, and that 
their authority is only by the Board of Super- 
visors; that they do not recognize in any way 
the authority of the State law. There is one 



point of the clash and inharmonious action in 
the matter; I would favor law which should 
compel the Board of Supervisors of the diS'erent 
counties, where it is necessary to do so, to pro- 
vide sufficient money by their votes to clear 
them from these insect pests, and giving the au- 
thority for doing all this work or rather letting 
it remain just where it does in the hands of one 
secondary organization that is legally consti- 
tuted in the State Board of Horticulture. If 
that is done and the Supervisors recognize that 
authority, and being compelled to furnish the 
money necessary to do this work we could very 
soon arrive at a solution of this problem of the 
insect pests. 

Mr. Aiken: I want to say in reply to Dr. 
Chapin that where the law authorizes or directs, 
say, a Board of Supervisors, to do a certain 
thing, where there is no discretion, that they 
are to do a certain thing, the law points out 
a remedy for that — a writ of mandate would 
lie against the Board. It is a very simple pro- 
ceeding; it could be done by a Superior Court, 
and it would be a question of whether a Board 
of Supervisors is above the law, or whether a 
Board of Supervisors will obey the law. They 
are not above the law of this State, they are 
not above the writ of mandamus, and it would 
be a very nice little case, and I would almost 
give $100 for a chance of trying it in the Su- 
preme Court, and establishing the right of the 
fruit-growers to command the obedience of the 
Board of Supervisors to the plain letter and 
spirit of the law. 

Mr. Bettner: Can you compel the Board of 
Supervisors to make any appropriation? 

Mr. Aiken: Where the law allows a discre- 
tion, the Board of Supervisors to a certain ex- 
tent is a legislative body, but when they be- 
come executive officers the law points out that 
that Board shall do a certain thing and they 
have no discretion, and I think a writ would 
lie. I have not examined the matter of late, 
but I think it is a clear principle of law; but 
anyway, try it, demand the writ, and I think 
the courts would issue the writ, and then it 
would come up on its merits of whether the 
Board of Supervisors can oppose the proper ex- 
ecution of the law passed by the Legislature of 
this State, or whether they can decline to make 
the appropriation that the law points out that 
they shall make. 

Dr. Chubb : It is not only what can be done, 
but what will be done. A man that will go 
and attack the Board of Supervisors in the man- 
ner described is a difficult man to find. It is 
sometimes just as easy to coax as to force. Our 
own Board of Supervisors, as has been explained 
by Mr. Rice, when we approached them and 
asked certain things done to carry out the law, 
said : "We will do whatever the public senti- 
ment requires or asks. " We met in the south- 
ern part of the county, the Santa Ana valley, 
andjcirculated a petition and got over 300 
names asking the Board of Supervisors to enact 
the regulations or ordnance under which we are 
acting in this county, and they at once acceded 
to that request, and I believe we have got as 
eff"ective a Board of Supervisors in that direc- 
tion as will be found in any other county in the 
State. Now, if the Board of Supervisors have 
any power, they get it from the Legislature. 
Granting that the law is all right, if the Board 
of Supervisors feel that the enforcement of the 
law is to the interest of that county, and that 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



the fruit interest is the interest that they are 
bound to respect and support, they will then at 
once make it their work. Why not ? They 
are the servants of the people, and the moat 
prominent interests of their county are the ones 
that will enlist their* hearts and hands, 
and are the ones they are the most ready to 
support.] All they want is the expression 
of public sentiment, and that is the reason 
I offered the resolution, and I believe it is the 
duty of this convention to make this expression, 
and to show that we want the backing of the 
law and of the money influence to protect the 
fruit interests of this State which we believe to 
be the coming interest. 

Col. Webb: I had not intended saying any- 
thing on this subject because it is really one 
that I have given, perhaps, less attention to 
than almost any other, for the reason that it has 
not been my duty to consider it as much as 
other questions, but I have considered it enough 
to see the many difficulties in the way of en- 
forcing the law, I am compelled to differ from 
Dr. Chapin and my friend Mr. Aiken. They 
seem to think, one that the law is proper and 
all that is necessary, and the other that there is 
no difficulty whatever in enforcing the law. 
Now, the law says that the Board of Super- 
visors maij appoint quarantine guardians who 
shall receive so much per day for their services 
to be derived from the damages assessed upon 
the party whose property is condemned. Now, 
a man, to obtain money in that way, must be a 
more abandoned creature than I believe is in this 
hall this evening. I doubt very much whether my 
friend Mr. Aiken would willingly take the posi- 
tion of quarantine guardian in that beautiful 
locality of Wright's station, and there enforce 
the law and condemn a man's orchard and say: 
"Mr. Jones, your trees are infected and I require 
of you to cleanse them immediately, and if you 
don't do it I will cut them down and I will 
compel you to pay the charges and costs of this 
atction, and then when the man refused to doit," 
aa he probably would, because they are stub- 
born people some of those fruit-growers, then 
enforce the law and have the property attached 
and sold and the money realized from it. Now, 
Mr. Aiken, if you would do that you would 
never want to run for county judge in that 
county. Then there is another thing: it has 
been said that the law provides that the Board 
of Supervisors should do a certain thing; that 
it is obligatory and mandatory, and they are 
bound to do it; that they must not suppose that 
they are above the law, etc. Oh, no; nobody 
supposes that they are above the law, but the 
question is, as in the other case, whether Mr. 
Aiken or anybody else that desires to live a 
quiet and peaceable life and meet his fellowmen 
on good and social terms every day; whether he 
wants to go to work and be the instrument of 
enforcing that; I doubt it very much. 

A Delegate: The new constitution has given 
ample power to the Board of Supervisors in any 
matter that interests the county, to make the 
allowance and levy taxes on the citizens where 
it may be necessary; they have a right to pass 
a no fence law, they have a right to regulate 
the school taxes and anything of that sort that 
concerns the people they can do, and in the 
new constitutional convention that thing was 
discussed thoroughly, and if we have a nuisance 
here of any kind the Board of Supervisors have 
power to levy a tax on the people to eradicate 



that, but then you have got to leave that to a 
vote of the people to see whether they ratify it 
or not. But the Board of Supervisors have 
got the power in each and every county to levy 
a tax on its citizens, is the way I understand 
it. 

Dr. Kimball: With all due deference for the 
enthusiastic member who comes from the Santa 
Cruz mountains, where they raise sucli tre- 
mendous apples, and where they insisted for a 
long time that the codlin moth could not 
live,I can say there is an unlimited field for his 
work at home. The question, after all this 
discussion, resolves itself down to the simple 
proposition whether the people themselves in 
every locality are so intensely interested in the 
work of getting rid of these insects, that they 
will carry it into politics, that they will carry 
it into the election of the Board of Supervisors, 
that they will carry it into the election of 
judges, and so interest the body politic that 
they will be willing to act in response to their 
request. That is all there is for the suppression 
of insects: for the people to act unitedly and 
sincerely and as if they meant business. That 
is the only solution I can see. The resolution 
as amended is adopted. 

A letter is here read from the Los Angeles 
Produce Exchange, extending the privileges of 
the room of exchange to the members of the 
society, also a letter tendering a similar cour- 
tesy from the Los Angeles Board of Trade , 

On motion of Dr. Chapin a vote of thanks 
was tendered to the Produce Exchange and to 
the Board of Trade for the courtesies thus ex- 
tended. 

Here the convention adjourned until Tues- 
day morning at 10 o'clock. 

The convention, on the morning of the second 
day, was called to order by President Cooper, 
Committees Appointed. 

The Chair appoints committees to judge of 
the fruits on exhibition in the hall as follows : 

On Citrus Fruits — Thomas A. Garey, of Los 
Angeles; .James Bettner, of Riverside; J. W. 
Gray, of Chico. 

Deciduous Fruits— Sol. Runyon, of Sacra- 
mento; Col. E. E. Edwards, of Santa Clara; 
S. McKinley, Los Angeles, 

Miscellaneous Fruits — A, T, Hatch, of Sui- 
sun; I. A. Wilcox, of Santa Clara; George Rice, 
of Highland, 

Fruit Marketing. 

The Chairman announces the topic of discus- 
sion for the morning hour: "The Care in Se- 
lection, the Kind and Size of Packages, the 
Marketing and Shipping." 

Mr. Webb : I have a box here from Mr. 
Coronel, which was sent to him at my sugges- 
tion from the East, which is recommended by 
Parker Earl as the best box which has ever 
been used in shipping fruit; it is here where all 
persons interested can have an opportunity to 
examine it. I should never have thought of 
sendixig for anything that was advertised had 
it not been for the recommendation of Mr, 
Earl, knowing his reputation as one of the 
leading fruit packers of the United States, and 
as a gentleman of the highest integrity. It is, 
here for you who desire to do so to investigate 
it. [The box was made of slats. Inside there 
was an arrangement of pasteboard, very much 
like the patent egg carriers, each fruit being 
given an apartment by itself, with holes for 
ventilation.] 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



Mr. AVilcox : I have been shipping small 
fruits for the last twenty or twenty-five years — 
blackberries, strawberries and the like — and I 
would like to look at that box very much. In 
importing plants or anything of that kind, 
where they go a great distance, they build 
openings at the top. I have had plants shipped 
to me, forty varieties of strawberries; every 
one of them came dead, because there was no 
current of air inside. I had them duplicated 
afterwards and all came through in a healthy 
condition where there was an opening at the 
top. The box shown by Mr. Webb seems to 
have the principle of ventilation about it- 
(explains the construction by illustration with 
the box itself) 

Mr. Webb : It obviates the necessity of 
wrapping; you get fruit of the right size, and 
select them with reference to the cells, and it 
obviates wrapping. 

Mr. Garey: Is this a new packas;e, or one 
that has been used and tried and proven by per- 
sons that have tried it heretofore? 

Mr. Webb: I think that the letter Mr. 
Coronel has from the manufacturer is accom- 
panied with the statement that Parker wrote to 
that effect, and that is the best answer to the 
question. 

Mr. Hussman: While I do not know any- 
thing about this package, and seen it for the 
first time now, I know a good deal of Parker 
Earl, and say this— that anything he recom- 
mends he has tried, and wouldn't recommend 
it otherwise. 

Mr. Williams, of Fresno: This matter of the 
package is a prominent one in reference to ship- 
ping fruit; if we get a package for the proper 
carrying and the proper handling of our fruit, 
•we have overcome a great obstacle in trans- 
porting of the fruit of the Pacific Coast to the 
great centers in the East, which is really our 
market. One of the great points of the ship- 
ping is in the exorbitant cost of the package. 
For instance, in packing a carload of grapes for 
Chicago or Kansas City, or anywhere else 
East, the mere cost of the package is more than 
the original cost of the fruit. If you put your 
grapes at $20 a ton, which is very low, the 
packages and the loading in the car will cost 
you 240 odd dollars. The great point in 
shipping is to lower the expenses. Our 
grapes are cheap enough; we have the con- 
sumers on the other side, the transportation 
and the package figures very largely in the 
general result. I have tried grapes in 4-pound 
baskets, and it works pretty well if you do not 
have any delay on the road. For the carrying 
of pears, we have used 40 pound boxes. They 
are not a success; you have to spring the tops 
on too tight and too hard to get them there in 
proper shape. Mr. Porter told me that he can 
spring them on so that they don't shrink a 
great deal; but novices in the business get 
them about half full. Now, we want a pack- 
age in which we can get them there in present- 
able shape. Another thing, the package, as it 
stands to-day, creates too much pressure on the 
center layers. We must have a taller pack- 
age, and one that will not, cost us too much. 
For other fruits, the smaller you have the pack- 
age the better, to obviate the pressure on the 
fruit. 

Mr. Garey : In Southern California perhaps 
the most important question in the matter of 
shipping fruit is the shipment of the fruits of 



the citrus family. We are looking for a super- 
ior package to the one we now use, and we will 
hail it with delight. The main point in ship- 
ping oranges is to prevent them from rubbing 
or chafing one another, as Mr, Williams said as 
to other fruits, getting loose in the box and in 
picking up the fruit shaking it about and bruis- 
ing and damaging it. The boxes shown appear 
in the first place to be cheap; that is an impor- 
tant point. We want a cheap box to ship our 
fruit in, as well as a cheap remedy to kill the 
scale bug, and these boxes, as they are made 
there, it strikes me that unless the oranges are 
selected and sorted especially to fit those spaces 
closely and snugly they will necessarily shake 
about, and that will bruise the oranges and de- 
stroy them. All the spaces that do not fit 
would have to be filled up with paper or some- 
thing that would make them fit snug and 
close. 

Dr. Chapin: After closer examination of this 
package as it appears here, it seems to me it 
would be rather a slimsy affair, the very slight- 
est touch will rack it in various directions with 
a single nail in the laths which are on the side. 
I should think the package would be very 
likely to fall to pieces, handled in the way in 
which fruit is in this country, or on any long 
journey, I should rather be afraid of the 
package myself, from the appearance of it. 

Mr. Garey: I suppose those compartments 
are not arbitrary, they can be changed to suit 
the size of the fruit. 

Mr. Webb: That is what I tried to state, 
that they have boxes of difi'erent sizes and 
cells, to accommodate the different sized fruits. 
Mr. Milco: My opinion is, that if that can 
be made strong enough, it would be one of the 
best things we have, for the simple reason that 
in order to bring our fruit before the public we 
must have it of different sizes; this idea of put- 
ting a layer of good fruit on top and small on 
the bottom ought to be done away with for the 
sake of our future prosperity, and that little 
box strikes me as one of the best things to ac- 
complish that purpose. You can't put a big 
orange in a small spaca; you have got to have it of 
the size to fit it, and then those packages ought 
to be marked numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4, or whatever 
the size is, and the fruit will sell accordingly. 
The main point is as Chapin says as to the sta- 
bility of the box. I know that when you put 
40 or 50 pounds of fruit in a box it has got to 
be pretty strong, the way freight and express- 
men handle boxes. They don't care how they 
handle them because they have no interest in 
it, and unless a man watches them or ships him- 
self and places it on the cars himself, the 
chances are that the fruit, when it gets on the 
other side, is not fit to do anything with. 

Mr. Wilcox: I think that the objection to 
the box that is here referred to can be very 
easily remedied. I have shipped fruit myself 
in a box similar to that, merely with a flat 
thin piece of board between the layers. The 
way we did, we braced the box by nailing a 
cleat along the outside at each corner. We 
took common laths and nailed it right over those 
places, and one at each corner and one at the 
end, and I never had any complaint, so far, as 
to fruit moving around in those compartments. 
The difficulty can be remedied easily, too, by 
taking a piece of paper; of course, the fruit 
ought to correspond in size, nearly, to the cell. 
One thing I want to say in regard to the ship- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



23 



ping of fruit here: It must be handled care- 
fully, and the railroad hands do not do so. 
They throw our chests ofif twenty rods from 
where we want them. I paid the railroad com- 
pany, fifteen years ago, $1000 freight on straw- 
berries at 80 cents a chest, and sometimes I 
would have to go ten rods away from the depot 
to get the chests. When I passed through 
Plorida last winter, I saw a circular of the 
railroad company as to shipping, and especially 
requesting that any carelessness be reported to 
headquarters. And yet, on this coast they are 
proverbially rough in handling the fruit. I 
would never ship fruit anywhere without put- 
ting it on the car myself, or some party who is 
interested in it themselves. That is the only 
safety you have. Mr. Block, who ships the 
most pears in Santa Clara county, don't trust 
anybody to attend to it for him; he has his own 
packer and his train shipper. 

Mr. Chapin: I am very glad the point was 
brought by Mr. Milco, regarding the size of the 
fruit throughout the entire package, and not a 
fine layer at the top, and then the balance of 
the box made up of inferior fruit of all sizes 
and descriptions. A little personal experience 
in that matter may not be uninteresting to the 
members of this convention. Owing to the ne- 
cessity of my being absent from home almost 
all my time, it is an absolute necessity that the 
details of my orchard work be left to hired help 
entirely, and my experience has been this, that 
however honest and faithful men may intend 
to be, and frequently are, yet they are often- 
times careless in their work. It is not as though 
the eye of the manager or the owner was upon 
them. Only the other day some packages of 
fruit sent to the San Francisco market were 
called to my attention when in the city and I was 
told that they came from my orchard. The 
box was opened on the side and shown to me. 
I said that never came from my orchard; my 
fruit is never packed in that manner. They 
assured me that it was so, and I became con- 
vinced that that was the fact. When I went 
home I opened some boxes that had been packed 
by my foreman in that same manner, and found 
precisely that description of things existing, 
notwithstanding I had repeatedly told him that 
it would cost him his position if he practiced 
any deception in the packing of fruit. I had 
positively forbidden him, giving the most arbi- 
tary instructions against anything of that kind, 
and yet, in the face of all that, the work was 
done in that way to a certain extent. Fortu- 
nately, it was but a few packages that were 
done in that way, but the man's excuse was 
that the fruit was there and he thought that he 
might as well make use of it a^nd get what he 
could for it. It is needless to say that that was 
not repeated, but this very method of packing 
in certain sized partitions with one class of 
fruit through the entire box is a most excellent 
one, and that part of it is to be commended 
most heartily, and if the cheapness of the box 
and the strength and the stability of the pack- 
age can be secured at the same time, so as to 
be profitable for the fruit-growei-s to use, there 
is no doubt but what it would be a most valu- 
able article. 

Dr. Frey: It would be a very easy matter 
to have it made so. If the boxes were going a 
short distance, it would do very well, but if 
they were going further you might have to put 
in a few nails, and they would go along very 



well; or, as the gentleman remarked, you could 
put slats in on top of it. You can put a slat 
on each end, so that the pressure in the box 
would come on the slats instead of coming on 
the top of the box, and that strengthens the 
box very much. In regard to grading fruit in 
the box, I think it is a matter of great impor- 
tance, that it should be insisted on by the so- 
ciety that every man should have his name on 
the box, and be personally responsible; and if a 
man puts in poor fruit let him take the respon- 
sibility, a d let everybody know who it is. 
The difference will soon be apparent. 

Mr. J. M. Gray: I would like to hear from 
somebody who ships fruit to Chicago if they 
think peaches could be shipped in that box, 
without rubbing. If so, it would save a great 
deal of trouble to the shipper. We know it is 
no small task to get a carload of fruit, and wrap 
each piece in paper, and I fear that the paper 
that we have now in this State is not the right 
thing to wrap peaches in, especially if they be- 
come the least bit moist. There seems to be a 
taste of the paper in the fruit. If we could ar- 
range some way of shipping without going to 
that expense and trouble it would be a good 
thing. 

J, M. Hixson: I have a great many letters 
from parties whom I have been doing business 
with this year, which I expect to lay before the 
fruit shippers and give them my advice in re- 
gard to a great many matters pertaining to ship- 
ping. In regard to Mr. Grey's remarks as to 
shipping peaches, I think is would be good if 
they would contract those spaces considerably 
to have the fruit fit. It may not be generally 
known that the fig, in the green shape, can be 
shipped through in good order. We had them 
from several different parts, and only, I be- 
lieve, in one instance did they come through in 
good order, and that was when there was but 
one layer in the box. They sold at extrava- 
gantly high prices, and demonstrated to my 
mind, that whatever package was successful, 
the cost of it would form but a small item if we 
could get the fig there in perfect order. The 
peach, too, at times, of course, will sell at a 
price in which the package would hardly cut 
any figure. In regard to the strengt\v of the 
package, that is one thing that I want particu- 
larly to call your attention to. I have a num- 
ber of letters, and I will read an extract from 
one to show the sentiment on the other side in 
regard to the package. In case of getting a 
light package, a pound or two or three or four 
pounds to get that package strong enough, so 
that it does not fall to pieces, is no consideration. 
We have one car of plums in which the stan- 
chions parted. They were put into an old- 
fashioned car and arranged to give ventilation, 
and v/hen they gave way the bottom of the 
fruit slipped forward and that threw it on an 
angle, and the package was so light that a good 
many of them burst, and the plums ran out. 
In such a case the cost of the packages was a 
very little consideration. I will read this from 
Boston: "I hope your friends in California will 
see the necessity of stronger packages. We 
consider this fault one of a very serious nature, 
and the sooner it is remedied the better it will 
be. For short distances, no doubt, they are 
'0. K., " You see, he says it is a very serious 
matter in regard to the packages, for he finds 
the fruit comes out of order in conseqnence of 
the package being so light that it springs. Now 



24 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



I have one from Hamilton, Canada, in which 
the gentleman speaks on the same matter of the 
package. In regard to putting the small fruit 
on the bottom, anything of that kind is not 
going to take in the East, because every pack- 
age there is opened. They open the package, 
or they put their hand on it, and they have be- 
come such experts that they are satisfied if it 
doesn't give, and if it does they then sort it out 
and find where the defective ones are and then 
take and supply them with fresh fruit, or if it 
is not packed tight enough they draw them to- 
gether and put in fruit enough to fill up the 
package, so that a man who is shipping with a 
view of success is not going to put in poor fruit 
or inferior fruit more than once or twice until 
he will see that it don't pay. There is no 
place I have ever done business where a man's 
name is worth so much to him as it is in the 
Eastern marie';, because they go right after 
ham. As soon as they find an article is well 
phcked, they seek for that brand, and when 
they say I will give you so much for that mark 
teey don't mean I will take all of it; they 
m an I will give you so much for the privilege 
of going through it, and if it is not all right 
they are going to reject it. It is no use^to put 
up|inferior fruit, or over ripe fruit, or anything 
of that kind with a view to success. There is 
another important thing, and that is uni- 
formity of package. If you are going to have 
twenty pounds in a package, have twenty 
pounds; if you are going to have forty pounds, 
have forty pounds of fruit. This is for two or 
three reasons. One is, that a man makes a cal- 
culation when he sends it out for retail how 
many pounds he is going to sell. Another is, 
that the express companies take their fruit at a 
certain rate per box. They cannot take any 
five, or eight, or ten thousand boxes and dis- 
tribute them to the different places and weigh 
the different lots; they mark them if it is 
peaches or plums; they take them as twenty- 
two pounds; if they are pears and apples and 
things of that kind, they take them at forty- 
six; so that if man has got eighteen pounds of 
plums, you see he is paying the extra express- 
age on it, and all those things are taken into 
consideration, 

Mr. Aiken: I will say as to the redwood box 
in the county of Santa Cruz, we buy them at 
two cents, peach and grape boxes, and we can 
manufacture enough to supply the State of 
California, at that price. As to that box, it 
may be of great value to us in the State enter- 
prise whicli you hear about; we propose to do 
one thing if nothing else; we propose to manu- 
facture the best boxes that can be obtained for 
the actual cost, and sell to fruit-growers at the 
actual cost; and what can be manufactured for 
20 cents, you will get for a little more than 10 
cents. 

Dr. Chubb: As to orange boxes, when talk- 
ing about it in the East this summer with a 
commission man, and when I told the cost of 
the box, they said you can do better than 
that by shipping your boxes from Maine by 
sailing vessels during the seasons when you 
don't want them, and get your supply during 
the fruit season. He spoke very confidently 
about it. He said he was confident we could 
get our supply of boxes much cheaper than 16J 
cents, which we were paying for orange boxes. 

Mr. Milco: I will give you my opinion. I 
know that one firm in this State is shipping a 



great many carloads of lumber around the 
Horn to all the Eastern ports, and it has been 
done for the last two or three years, and I have 
been told by Mr. Smith, of Stockton, that the 
lumber is so cheap in California that they can't 
make a cent out of it, and the only money they 
are making is by shipping East. You can 
imagine as to that, if they ship around the 
Horn from Oregon and Washington and make 
a profit. 

Mr. Chubb: Then they ought not to charge 
20 cents for orange boxes. 

Mr. Conger: I think the boxes made in 
Maine are made of birch, and not of pine. I 
was told once that they could be bought in 
Maine for seven cents. Mr. Wood can inform 
us on that point. Did you not write to Maine? 

Mr. Wood: Yes, sir, we have received 
prices from so many different places, but I can 
say this as to that box, when we were in busi- 
ness here, shipping a good many, we could buy 
our cases in the East and pay our freight on 
them, and lay them down here for less money 
than we could get them from San Francisco. 
In my experience those boxes can be bought in 
the East and brought out here by freight as 
cheap as they can be manufactured at home 
by our present manufacturers, unless they have 
improved during the last two years. 

Mr. James Bettner: I was in New Orleans 
last year, and inquired as to the cost of the 
Florida orange boxes. They get the most of 
them from Maine, and I found that the Maine 
boxes, coming by water transportation, cost 
about what it costs to deliver Truckee boxes at 
Riverside (about 14^ cents); and the Maine 
orange box is to me a very unsightly box. It is 
made of basswood, is very thin, and has to be 
bound with hoops, and it warps all up and out 
of shape if exposed to the sun or air at all. 
They have found so much fault in Florida, 
even, that they use a local box in some places 
there, and are turning out a pine box that is a 
good deal similar to our Truckee boxes. 

A Delegate: I think if you can ascertain the 
lowest price you can secure these boxes in the 
East, and then will examine the boxes made in, 
San Francisco and on this coast, and the prices, 
you will find that we can procure boxes, or any 
thing else in the wood line, a great deal cheaper 
here than you can procure it anywhere on the 
Eastern coast. Only a few weeks ago I was up 
on the Canadian Pacific railroad at Victoria, 
and they were very much agitated there on ac- 
count of the Dominion Governmeni assessing the 
lumber there, 8% advalorem, and 25 cents a 
tree for their lumber, and they sent a remon- 
strance back to the general government, trying 
to overcome that, saying it would ruin their 
market in the lumber line, and prevent them 
from competing with the California and the 
Puget Sound lumber country. Now, we have 
box manufacturers and everything in this 
country, and we have the wood; there is wood 
enough in Eureka, Humboldt county, to make 
boxes and box up all the fruit, and the trees, 
and everything else there is in this country, 
and we can furnish them just as cheap as we 
can get them from Maine or anywhere 
else in the world, and just as 
good, and I will tell you that I think it will be 
to our best interests to keep this money at 
home. We have bright prospects in this coun- 
try, and I think anyone can see that it is going 
to be the distributing point for all the southern 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



25 



country. It is so recognized by all the railroads 
in the country. If we look a little to our own 
interests, without sending any money abroad, I 
think we will all fare a great deal better. I do 
not disapprove of ascertaining what you can 
procure these things for. While I was in Brit- 
ish Columbia a man started some soap works. 
He sent to his neighbor a block or two away 
for boxes. He said: "I will charge you 15 
cents a piece." He says: "Send me 1000 
boxes." It so happened that there was one of 
Hobb's men there. The soap-maker told him 
his trouble, and he says, "I will send you up 
some boxes," and he did send them from San 
Francisco, going the trip by sea to Victoria. 
Just one week before he could get them from a 
block away. That would show you if it need 
that the work can be done just as well here as 
anywhere else, and as good as any you can get 
abroad. 

Mr. Wilcox : I live where we make boxes, 
in San Jose. One thing should be borne in 
mind. In the first place, all the best timber 
that is used for boxes, from cheats down, was 
held by a combination. When I bought my 
first blackberry chests, twenty-five years ago, I 
paid $9 for 100 chests. I can now buy those 
chests, of a better quality, for $3. We had no 
machinery to make a good chest; now we have 
machinery in San Francisco that will dove-tail 
the corners in the best possible manner. We 
have the same in San Jose. I have paid for 
strawberry boxes, to hold 8 or 10 pounds, 11 
cents; I get them now for 2^ cents. I can buy 
the common strawberry box, holding a pound, 
for S-10 of a cent apiece; that is all it costs for 
little raspberry baskets. So far as that 
is concerned we have been making them 
there in San Jose as cheap as can be made any- 
where — lumber is much cheaper than it is in 
the East. We can make a box cheaper than 
any part of the world. Our redwood lumber is 
even being sent East to be manufactured, lu 
New Orleans they all wanted to know what it 
could be got for. They use it to make cof- 
fins. They are making coffins at Santa 
Clara by the quantity. We are supplying 
all this coast, the Sandwich Islands and Mex- 
ico and all this country with them. We 
don't want Eastern lumber. When we have 
machinery in competition that is all we want. 
I wouldn't look to the East for a box hereafter, 
and I don't think we will need to. It may be 
that we will want to combine with this organi- 
zation on shipping and that we will want to 
make our own boxes, and I believe they can be 
made here cheaper than anywhere in the world, 
for there is no part of the world where we can 
find lumber so accessible. 

Dr. Congar: I don't think there is a ques- 
tion but what boxes can be made here as cheap 
as in any part of the world. That is dodging 
the point. We want to know whether they 
will so make them, that is what we are after. 

Mr. Milco: I think that the fruit interests 
of Southern California are so extensive that the 
fruit-growers of this State are strong enough to 
go to work and make their own boxes. If they 
cannot get them cheap enough they should put 
their shoulders to the wheel, and go to work 
and put up their own factory and see what they 
can do, and I think they will find they can get 
their boxes very cheap. 

Mr. Hixon: I think we are losing sight of 
the main point of this matter, which is ventil- 



ation of the fruit more than cheapness of the 
boxes; and while we discuss the latter part of 
it we ought not to pass over this very impor- 
tant matter. You see the box, which is shown 
here, is ventilated from below, and the vapor 
or moist atmosphere rises upwards through the 
fruit. I want to call your attention to one 
fact demonstrated in the receipt of some cher- 
ries we had this year in Chicago. We had one 
carload, in which there were about 700 cases, 
shipped in the ordinary crate — such as are used 
in the shipping of grapes — and bye the 
bye, I would not by any means recom- 
mend that as the proper package for 
cherries. I do not suppose there is any man 
who would have paid $100 for the carload of 
cherries at the depot when they arrived. We, 
of course, have to pay freight anyway, even if 
the fruit is all ruined. We have given bonds 
for that beforehand. There were 15 crates in 
that lot that the man had stretched brown 
paper over the top of the crate so that the 
paper was about half an inch above the top of 
the cherries. On top of that paper was laid the 
slats, so as to prevent pressure coming down to 
mash it. It was arranged so that there was a 
space between the cherries and the paper, 
and a space between the paper and the top of 
the crate. In one of those crates the paper had 
got torn and fell down upon the cherries; that 
was like the balance, covered with fine mould, 
of a thin cobweb appearance; the other 14 
crates were in good order. There was no 
other crate in that lot that we could ship out- 
side the city of Chicago. By taking the tops 
off the boxes and exposing them to the air this 
cobweb, like mildew, passed off of a great many, 
and the local buyers bought them, and we got 
about |800 out of that whole carload. That 
paper absorbed the moisture that arose 
from the bottom or from the cherries, 
and the cherries were in good condition. A 
good many of the cherries and other fruit that 
were not wrapped had so much moisture on the 
top of the boxes, that it was absorbed by the 
wood, until the top was discolored. Now, if a 
fruit box is ventilated so that this moisture can 
pass off, it seems to me it is of vital importance. 
So far as the box business is concerned, none of 
us doubt but what we can make them as cheap 
here as anywhere else. The only question is, 
do we do it? I had some occasion to get some 
boxes in Chicago, and paid for the first lot of 
white wood, 25-lb, boxes, eight cents, and then 
got a bid from three different parties for 25-lb. 
boxes clear pine, at seven cents, and then made 
for six cents. I had occasion to have some figs 
packed the other day in San Francisco, and the 
man who packed them assured me he had to 
charge so much, because he had to pay nine 
cents a piece for the same size box, and I 
remonstrated with him and he tried to get them 
reduced. He said he could not get them less 
than nine cents. I have no doubt but what 
they can make them here just as cheaply as 
anywhere else; but the question is, do they do 
it? But the main question, as I have already 
said in this matter, is ventilation. 

Gathering and Curing Fruit. 

The chair announces the second topic of the 
day: "The proper time to gather the different 
kinds of fruits, the curing, etc." 

Dr. Congar: I rise to make a few remarks 
upon that subject, in reference to the oranget 



26 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



and lemon. I know very little about the de- 
ciduous fruits that are growing in Southern 
California at this time. When I came here 10 
years ago, I paid 10 cents apiece for apples 
raised in Oregon, a dollar a pound for butter 
made in Sacramento valley, and everything in 
proportion. Now the local production of such 
articles is abundant. I have had some experi 
ence in regard to handling the oranges and 
lemons, as to their condition of ripeness, and 
their eflfect when picked under certain con- 
ditions. I will speak of the lemon first. I paid 
more attention to that than the orange. It is 
a well known fact that the lemon in this lo- 
cality requires certain treatment in 
order to produce a fruit of first quality. I 
may say first and foremost, soil has something 
to do with it, and something in the matter of 
treating the trees as to the amount of water the 
tree is to get, etc. I would speak of the lemon 
as it is taken from the tree, and as far as I go, I 
I speak of the Eureka and Lisbon lemon. 
They have in the San Francisco market a 
lemon called by the commission men there the 
"California Sicily Seedling." I rebel against 
that name. We have no such lemon in this 
country. We have a Sicily from the bud, and 
it is as difi'erent from the seedling as can be. 
The lemon I wish to speak of is the Sicily bud, 
the Eureka, the Lisbon and the Genoa. Those 
lemons, under the treatment I have pursued, 
will produce a lemon that we challenge the 
world to surpass. I am willing to put up 100 
boxes against 100 boxes imported lemons. 
The lemon wants to be slightly colored 
on the tree before it is picked ; it 
wants to receive from the soil all the proper- 
ties that will make it perfect. It must be 
picked at that stage with the best of care, 
without much handling. I mulch my trees 
with straw and lay the lemons immediately 
under the tree. It matters not whether it is 
damp or dry. Of course, if it is a dry portion 
of the year, I leave them there a less time than 
though it were a damp season of the year. 
They will remain under the tree for weeks if it 
is a moist atmosphere. I don't place them 
over two or three inches deep, and they will 
cure down into a lemon which I will challenge 
the world to surpass. By this process the skin 
loses moisture, and becomes soft almost as a 
glove, but it is hermetically sealed. There is 
no chance for the oxygen of the air to 
penetrate that rind, and it is the oxygen of the 
air, as we all know, that causes the decay in all 
fruits. If you keep out the oxygen from the 
fruit it will never decay. Hence, the necessity 
for picking your fruit with a great deal of care'. 
If lemons are handled as I have described, you 
need have no fear of foreign competition. 
Now, as to the orange: I find it to an ad- 
vantage to pick the orange with some care and 
allow them four or five days to shrink; that is, 
to lose a surplus of moisture in the rind. It is 
when the riud is distended with this surplus of 
moisture that scraping it with the finger in 
picking will rupture the rind and the oxgen of 
the air takes hold of that little spot. It com- 
mences to decay. Hence, you want to pick 
them with this care and put them in a box 
and lay them away under the tree and let 
them shrink for three or four days. It de- 
pends somewhat upon the ripeness of the fruit. 
They should be in such condition that when 
they are put in boxes they will not shrink and 



become loose so that every time the cars shake 
they knock one against the other. There is a 
secret of great loss in our fruit shipped to the 
Eastern market. If they are shrunk before 
they are packed, you can pack them just as 
tight as you can pack an apple, and they can- 
not give in your boxes. If you will go ahead 
with the sorting practice you can pack them 
so tight that they will scarcely move in transit 
to Chicago. 

I rose to give my experience in picking oflp the 
tree. Those who buy the fruit oflF the tree, and 
pick and pack them under the tree, huddle 
them off to the railroad the next day; they 
throw them just as you throw sacks of potatoes. 
They take them up in boxes and throw them on 
the wagons, and I have seen the juice run out 
of those oranges as they packed them. That is 
the way some of the commission men handle 
our fruit, and we suS'er in consequence. That 
is the reason why I am in favor of some kind of 
an organization, either Southern California or 
Northern California, so that we may stop this 
terrible work. If, when we pick the fruit when 
it is ripe, let it lose the surface moisture, and 
pack it closer, we will get along without much 
loss. We can raise as good fruit as any in the 
world. 

Mr. Hixson: I would like to say one word 
in reference to Dr. Congar's remarks in regard 
to picking the orange and letting them lie 
awhile. I think there is so much point in that, 
that everyone ought to pay some attention to it. 
It is very well known that there is no man in 
California who is as successful in shipping ap- 
ples as Mr. Da Long, of Marin county. At his 
place they pick their apples in a box, one-third 
larger than the box they pack in, and they put 
it in an apple-house and let it stand there for a 
given length of time that may suit them, but 
not less than a week or 10 days, and pack it 
from that into the boxes that they ship in. 
They ship to Australia and New Zealand, and 
other distant markets with perfect success, and 
I think that it is because they let the extra 
juice pass off in evaporation. I think the Doc- 
tor's remarks on that point are worthy of a great 
deal of consideration. 

Dr. Chubb: My experience does not agree 
with the Doctor's theory completely. This last 
summer, in the month of June, I had sent to 
me in a western city, two, or three carloads of or- 
anges that were sent on rather as an experiment. 
They could be bought very cheaply in our sec- 
tion of the valley, because they were the I'em- 
nanta of the orange crop, had ripened up later 
and had to be picked up later, and a great many 
of them were very ripe, and wouldn't be con- 
sidered fit for shipment on that account. They 
were picked indiscriminately, believing that 
they would at least, pay the expenses, and were 
packed rapidly without due care. I saw them 
as they were opened in the commission houses, 
and from the very fact that the skin had dried, 
they came through in better order than oranges 
that I shipped in March. That experience con- 
vinced me that we must cure our oranges be- 
fore shipping; they were dried on the tree. 

Mr. Rose: I have had various experiences 
with shipping oranges and in picking lemons. 
I have spoilt more lemons I guess than any man 
in the State of California in experimenting, 
and I feel very sure that Dr. Congar is very 
correct in all that he has said of his own 
knowledge as to the lemon bnsiness. I have no 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



27 



doubt, it is true, not only to me but to every- 
body who has lemons. As to the orange, I 
have had a different experience from Dr. Con- 
gar. Last year I went upon the theory of 
picking and keeping my oranges two or three 
days under cover in a large buiiding that had 
the ventilation of open doors and open win- 
dows, but oranges which had been in there 
would not keep as long as those packed out in 
the field and shipped at once. I have found 
that oranges that are kept out of doors will 
keep better than those which are kept in any 
kind of a house, no matter what kind or what 
ventilation. So far as the orange is concerned, 
there is a necessity for the people of this 
county, especially, to find some way of clean- 
ing them, and washing oranges has had the ef- 
fect of making them decay very easily, al- 
though there are modifications I think in the 
practice which did not result that way. We 
have tried to rub them off with a brush, and if 
immediately shipped they will decay very 
quickly — much more quickly than if they had 
not been rubbed. It is the same way 
with the washing. We have in our neigh- 
borhood a very painstaking gentleman, 
Mr. Dobbins, who washed his oranges last win- 
ter and kept them out-doors, with some pro- 
tection of shade, perhaps, and they went as well 
as if they had not been washed. It is my belief 
we ought to have a drying-house, and I believe 
we will come to it yet. You can take an 
orange and put it on the mantel piece. You 
can keep it there and it will never decay — it 
will dry up. You can keep it there until it 
gets as hard as grain. Again, you can put it 
in a trunk and have it among your clothing, 
where the moisture is taken up by the sur- 
roundings, and it will never decay, and will 
finally dry up. Now, the reasonable suppo- 
sition is, that if you had a dry house with trays, 
with the fruit only one deep on a tray, and 
some heat passing over them, taking off the 
surplus moisture, the orange would keep to 
ship to any part of the world. I believe it will 
pay to do it. I will take an instance where I 
ship a carload a day. Last season be- 
ing a dry season, I had no trouble, 
but you take another season with wet 
winter rains almost every day, and the orange 
will take up a great excess of moisture by the 
rain. You can take any orange, pick it im- 
mediately after a rain, pack it immediately 
after,and it will decay before it gets to San Fran- 
cisco. You must wait till sunshine comes and 
dries it out to a certain extent. For that reason I 
think it will be necessary for the men who ship 
largely to have a dry-house and take off the 
surplus moisture, and then we can hope and ex- 
pect that we may ship oranges to any part of 
the United States without any decay, but I 
must say that Dr. Cougar's theory about keep- 
ing them for a while in a house I have not found 
correct. 

Dr. Cougar: I did not say in the house. I 
keep tfiem on the ground under the tree. I had 
Mr. Rose's experience in keeping them in the 
house. 

Mr, Cooper: Referring to the remarks of 
Dr. Cougar, I find it is very dangerous to give 
theories. In Southern Europe, and with the 
Spanish and French, they are about equally 
divided on the subject of seedlings. There are 
seedling lemons up in the Exhibition hall, 
raised at my home from the seed of a Sicily 



lemon, and I have sold them in San Francisco 
side by side, at precisely the same price 
with the imported Sicily lemon. They 
are up there now and I wish you 
would all help yourselves and see what they 
are like. I have the budded Eureka lemon, and 
I have tried to test both of them, and I have de- 
cided that my seedling Sicily, as Dr. Congar 
calls it, is the better of the two. 

Dr. Congar: I refer to the seedling lemon 
that I am acquainted with here. Now our 
Eureka lemon is a seedling, and Mr. Wolfkill 
has a seedling that is a superior lemon. I am 
not speaking of that, I am speaking of the seed- 
ling lemon — great big things with the rind as 
thick as a citron. 

Mr. Cooper: Mine I keep four months. 
These up-stairs were picked about four months 
ago; picked by a Chinaman, without any par- 
ticular care. I have kept them six months. 

At this point a recess was taken until after- 
noon, 

Afternoon Session. 

The chairman announced the program of the 
hour : "How the fruit-growers are to dispose 
of their fruits without coming into competition 
with each other as to prices for the same quality 
and kinds of fruit." 

Address of H. P. Livermore on Fruit 
Shipping. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fruit- 
Growers of Southern California : — I esteem 
myself fortunate in having the privilege of 
speaking to you on a subject which I con- 
ceive of such very great importance that it 
needs a great deal of talking about, and I may 
say that, in so speaking to you, I shall give 
you [not an address, but a business talk. I 
speak to you as a business man who, something 
like ten years ago, became interested in the 
fruit-growing proposition in vineyards and or- 
chards situated in Sacramento county, where 
for the last six years, until this present year, I 
have had not only large proprietorship, but per- 
sonal management. In those six years I have 
had to ship to Eastern markets fruit and grapes 
of various kinds to the different houses. 
Now, in all that period of six years, I 
have never been able, as a proprietor of 
such interest and as a manager of such 
business, to predicate one single element of 
certainty, season by season, for that interest. 
As a proprietor of such property, I have 
always felt that I was in the dark, that 
I was shooting at random, that I might 
and my game, or that I might have to 
respond to the drafts for deidcits. This 
year particularly has such been the case; and 
when the realizing sense came upon me that no 
contract can be made for the placing of Cali- 
fornia fruits in the Eastern markets, that we 
had to gather them at random, that we had to 
take our chances, that we had to run the gaunt- 
let of competition with all California producers 
who were similarily situated — I said to myself 
this is a condition of things that can not but be 
disastrous. It means nothing less than confis- 
cation of this property interest if it continues. 
Naturally, holding that view, and being, as I 
say, a man of business experience, accustomed 
to the solution of business problems, I turned 
about to see what there was in the situation 
that would afford any protection in the 
future, or what there might be in the 



28 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



situation that would threaten a permanent 
continuation of such things, reaching, in ad- 
vance, the concltision that if such was contin- 
uously to be the condition of the fruit interest of 
California I wanted to gracefully withdraw 
from it and pocket my loss, 

I have had extensive familiarity, for all these 
years, with the Northern fruit interests, de- 
rived from personal inspection of the produce 
of that section. I then considered it was nec- 
essary and proper for me to know something of 
your Southern interests. I came South, and 
passed nearly two months quietly going about 
your various communities, feeling the pulse of 
the situation; and it did not take me long to 
find out that the condition of things which 
was exercising us existed quite as seriously 
here as there. It did not take me long 
to find out that you had the same 
problem to solve, that I, as an owner of 
such property, had, namely: that the property 
which I thought last year was worth one hun- 
dred cents on a dollar, might be of doubtful 
availability this year, and under the present 
condition of things. 

Let us not go into particulars; let us not pub- 
lish unnecessarily this condition of things, but 
let us take counsel together whether it must 
not be admitted among ourselves that our prop- 
erty interests, our values in such property, are 
seriously threatened by the present condition 
of the fruit trade, and would be, in a great 
measure, overturned by the continuance thereof. 
Such was my conviction. I returned to San 
Francisco with my mind pretty thoroughly 
made up that the situation was as bad as I had 
anticipated, and probably was beyond present 
remedy. I say present, for even then I could 
not bring myself, as a business man, to think 
that men of sagacity, of good judgment and of 
experience, such as I thought the fruit-growers 
of California were> would long tolerate such a 
condition of things. 

Shortly thereafter there came an announce- 
ment of a convention of the "Fruit Growers of 
California," and I naturally attended that con- 
vention with no very definite idea of what 
would come out of it, but with the conviction 
that the thing to do was for the fruit-growers 
to get together, and that the convention was a 
means of so doing. Being there, I found vari- 
ous suggestions, and, in connection with others, 
who, like myself, were earnestly moving and 
endeavoring to remedy existing evils, I was 
placed upon a committee to take in hand this 
proposition and suggest a remedy. That 
committee was composed of gentlemen who are 
doubtless familiar to you all, but I will, for the 
purpose of a full understanding, give you their 
names: William H. Aiken of Santa Cruz, R. 
J. Trumbull of San Francisco, Abbott Kinney 
of Los Angeles county, A. Bloch of Santa 
Clara county, Horatio P. Livermore of San 
Francisco, F. G. De Long of Marin county, M. 
Estee of Napa county. That committee was in- 
structed to inquire into the whole subject, and 
to propose a method for redressing the evils 
that oppress us. They held serious delibera- 
tions; at first without being in'complete unison, 
latterly reaching an understanding to justify a 
report in the convention. 

Resolved, That it is the opinion ot the majority of 
your committee that the fruit-growers should organ- 
ize a corporation confiding the management of their 
fruit for Eastern shipment to a >duly qualified board 



of directors of the said corporation for the protec- 
tion of their mutual interest and the disposal of their 
produce. 

Resolved, That the capital stock of said corpora- 
tion shall be $250,000, represented by 250,000 shares 
of $1 each, and that the fruit-growers shall have the 
privilege of subscriptions at the rate of one share of 
stock for each acre of bearing orchard and vineyard 
of shipping grapes, the same to be an operative cap- 
ital fund for mutual protection purposes. 

That report was taken in hand by the con- 
vention; it was deliberated upon, discussed in 
all aspects, through one entire day, and then, 
after further discussion on the second day, was 
finally unanimously adopted, and the same com- 
mittee were directed to take charge of the busi- 
ness of working up the details of co-operative 
union or corporation, and generally putting it 
into effective motion. I did not know at the 
time when that committee was appointed, how 
much was in store for the members of it in the 
way of solid work, but in the six weeks that en- 
sued from the date of the first convention to the 
holding of the second, I had a realizing sense 
of it. We, however, did what we could, in the 
crude condition of things. I say crude, because 
an interest so vast and widespread as the Cali- 
fornia fruit growers' interest is necessarily 
crude until it is organized. We did 
what we could, however, and, returning 
to the convention, we reported a plan ; 
that plan was objectionable in many re- 
spects to various of the localities of northern 
California, because they had then conceived 
local ideas from local preferences. Let us not 
say prejudices, but preferences, and prefer- 
ences, perhaps, well founded in many instances. 
However, after long discussion and some modi- 
fications, all the interests were harmonized, 
and a general agreement was reached, and it 
gave birth to the 

California Fruit Union, 
A corporation which I now represent, and to 
which I now call your attention. I may say 
before going further, that in the incorporation 
of this Fruit Union, the capital was considered 
by the committee as advisable to be restricted 
to the acreage of orchard now existing in the 
State — at first the bearing orchard; afterwards 
they opened it to all orchards, without distinc- 
tion. It was the opinion of the committee, 
from the best information procurable, that 100,- 
000 acres would cover the entire area, and it is 
still their opinion. For that reason they rec- 
ommend a capital of 100,000 shares, or $1C0,- 
000. It was held by the committee that that 
was sufficient. It was held by the committee 
that in all probability not that entire amount 
could or would be subscribed; but, that as a 
maximum amount, it was sufficient to start 
with, or rather to place as a maximum limit. 
The convention thought otherwise, and in the 
desire to give the complete latitude, and to 
provide for the future increase of acreage, they, 
by resolution, increased the capital stock to the 
amount of .1i;250,000 or 250,000 shar^. Of 
course, the committee were perfectly willing to 
accept that amendment, inasmuch as it 
involves nothing as to the amount of 
stock that should be issued, that being 
limited by the acreage, and it is still 
the opinion of the committee that the capital, 
which is now spoken of as $250,000, will practi- 
cally, under the operation of this scheme, fall 
considerably within $100,000. Now the whole 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



29 



theory and motive power of this scheme has 
always'^been, and is to-day, "co-operation;" we 
make a corporation because the lawdehnes that 
we must, but the idea is co-operation, a "co- 
operative union" of the fruit-growers, which 
they themselves shall officer and shall control, 
and for their sole benefit and profit. Be there 
little or much profit, it is for the fruitgrowers, 
and in that sense we ffiel that we are justified 
in laying a very considerable stress. 

Perhaps, in order to give you a clear under- 
standing, I had better read to you the articles 
of incorporation and by-laws. [Mr. Livermore 
read the articles of incorporation, also the by- 
laws as adopted Wednesday, November 11th, 
1885, and as published in the Rural Press in 
the issue of November 14th.] 

The by-laws provide for nine trustees, but it 
is competent for the stockholders, when they 
finally adopt by-laws, to increase the trustees 
to 11, and it probably will be done to satisfy 
any territory requiring additional representa- 
tion, and to create a local Board wherever nec- 
essary. 

You will notice that the stockholder is in all 
cases associated with, and identified with, pro- 
ducing acres. Our original plan of estimating 
acreage for representation was to restrict it to 
orchard and to shipping grapes, but as we got 
into the subject we found that small fruits were 
very likely to call for a standing in connection 
with our transportation, particularly if the now 
probable feasibility of the cold storage car were 
demonstrated, and the vegetable transportation 
would enter very largely into the question, and 
that the acreage that could, should and prob- 
ably would, be devoted to vegetable culture for 
Eastern shipment would be very large; and for 
the additional reason that the vegetable ship- 
ments are a matter of great help to us in early 
shipments, it was included, so that, as the cor- 
poration now stands, the privilege of being 
stockholders was given to the cultivators of 
small fruits and of vegetables for Eastern ship- 
ment. I have thus read what constituted the 
articles of incorporation and the bylaws of the 
California Fruit Union, as considered in the 
committee's report to that convention. There 
were, however, two or three points, not placed 
in the by-laws, which they gave to the conven- 
tion in the form of recommendations, that have 
not yet been incorporated into the by-laws, 
and may or may not be, according to the ideas 
of the majority of the stockholders. I will 
read from the report those recommendations, 
so that you may then have the whole thing as 
it is likely to stand. [Reads recommendations 
of committee.] 

Now I will call your attention to the fact 
that, first, this is a Union restricted to produc- 
ers; second, that the ownership in it is propor- 
tioned by acres to the interest in the fruit pro- 
duced; third, that the ownership of stock is 
treated as a merely nominal matter; that it is 
not desired to make it a profit-paying stock — to 
make it a stock that could or would be sought 
for as a profitable investment, but simply giv- 
ing to it an interest barely compensating the 
capital invested, and letting the bulk of the 
profit go to the parties who produce the fruit in 
the proportion that they shall furnish such 
fruit. Now, I think this corporation, put into 
effective practice, is "boiled-down co-opera- 
tion," if I know what it means. The business 
ia done by the producers themselves, in their 



own behalf, and the profit divided among 
themselves. The theory in the management 
of the practical business details, when we come 
to them, will be that the Union, in handling 
its business, shall receiveI,from the parties who 
deal with it, or who ship fruit, the same rates 
of commission that are now received by commis- 
sion merchants, or that are paid by producers 
in the various channels where they now dispose 
of their produce, and that the Union will then 
proceed to handle those goods on the most eco- 
nomical basis possible, and whatever surplus is 
left after paying necessary expenses will come 
back to the stockholders, or to fruit producers, 
which is the other name for stockholders, 
in proportion to their shipments, less the 
six per cent interest on the stock and the 
two per cent reserve. Now for a clear un- 
derstanding of the question of fruit ship- 
ments. It is perhaps proper that I should 
read to you what they have been dur- 
ing 1S85 to October 1st. In the reports that have 
been compiled the committee have embodied 
the entire shipments of all fruits; but I will not 
weary you with the details, suffice it to say that 
the shipment of green deciduous fruits, classi- 
fied distinctly from the citrus fruits, have 
been, for the year 1885 up to October 1st, 1025 
carloads, almost exclusively from the North; 
only 66 carloads have gone from Los Angeles. 
I can now make a similar report on the citrus 
fruits. These reports have been made in 
pounds, I have reduced them to carloads: 8an 
Francisco shipped 1 car, Los Angeles 1119 cars, 
Sacramepto 1 car; there have been minor 
quantities shipped from Marysville, Stockton 
and Oakland, but those are immaterial. The 
grand total of the shipment of oranges is 1121 
cars. These have been distributed to the fol- 
lowing points: Denver, 72 cars; Pueblo, 7 
cars; Omaha, 62 cars; Lincoln, Neb., 28 cars; 
other points in Nebraska, 2 cars; Atchison, 26 
cars; Leavenworth, 11 cars; Topeka and other 
cities in Kansas, 15 cars; Council Bluffs, 6 cars; 
Des Moines, 3 cars; Davenport, Dubuque and 
other points in Iowa, 51 cars; Kansas City, 120 
cars; St. Joseph, 58 cars; St. Louis, 68 cars; 
other cities of Missouri, 2 cars; San Antonio, 
Texas, 12 cars; Galveston and Houston, 9 cars; 
Austin, Dallas and other points in Texas, 12 
cars; New Orleans, 5 cars; Louisville, 3 cars; 
Cincinnati, 28 cars; Cleveland, Toledo and 
other cities in Ohio, 59 cars; Chicago, 246 cars; 
Peoria, Rock Island and other cities in Illinois, 
15 cars; Detroit, 9 cars; other cities in Michi- 
gan, 3 cars; Indianapolis, 19 cars; Terre Haute, 
Evansville and other cities in Indiana, 15 cars; 
Milwaukee, 25 cars; St. Paul and Minneapolis, 
115 cars; New York, 2 cars; Boston, 1 car; 
Philadelphia 1 car, other Atlantic cities 1 
car. Now, I consider that table to be instruct- 
ive to the shippers of citrus fruits, as it indi- 
cates that, except at second hands, through 
Chicago, the great Atlantic seaboard, with its 
vast consuming population, has not even been 
broached. It indicates that Chicago is what I 
have heard a fruit-grower very aptly term it, 
"the dumping point for the fruit of California," 
and it frequently is that, in a financial sense. 
Now, too much fruit goes in that direction, and 
vastly too little to the markets of the Eastern 
seaboard. Well, perhaps that has been inev- 
itable under the existing condition of things; 
perhaps it has not been possible to reach the 
Eastern seaboard; we feel, with reference to 



30 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



the deciduous fruits of the North, which here- 
tofore have been shipped only by passenger 
trains, that it really is so, and that, until we 
get special fruit trains and the consequent re- 
ductions of freights which only can come by 
special fruit trains, those far Eastern markets 
cannot be reached. Still it is evident, from the 
foregoing statement, as it is also evident from 
the statement of green fruit shipments, that 
the Eastern markets have not been developed 
at all in proportion to the development of our 
capacity to produce fruit, and that if we are 
to go on and produce fruit with the new acre- 
age which stands behind us, coming along to 
contest the markets with us, to crowd us down 
into a condition of absolute loss, we have a 
great deal to do to develop not only the markets 
that are partially occupied, but the markets 
that are comparatively unoccupied. Now I 
think the great necessity of united action in an 
endeavor to reach and develop those markets, 
cannot be denied, and that it needs imme- 
diate organization of all in interest. It 
does not do for one locality to say, as 
did our neighbors on the Central Pacific in 
Placer county, "We have exceptional facili- 
ties; we have choice mountain fruit. It is of 
high repute in the East, where it has the pref- 
erence. We are at a very favorable shipping 
point, and we can get along. We make up our 
local co-operative organizations and we are get- 
ting along nicely." That is what they did say, 
and one town made a co-operative organization, 
and another followed, and before the shipping 
season was over they had five co-operative or- 
ganizations, and the competition between those 
local shipping organizations was just as marked, 
and just as capable of paying Irish dividends, 
as if it had been individuals, and the result is, 
those gentlemen have candidly said. We must 
take shelter under the wings of the general 
State organization, and they have done it. 
Now, there are considerations peculiar to every 
locality, and yet it seems to me, that conceding 
every claim that any locality may make, it will 
fare better in a general State Union, in the 
great congregation, with such a corporation as 
we have proposed, than if it were standing by 
itself, each locality by itself. I can see very 
clearly that, in some sense, there has been too 
much of the stay-at-home principle among all 
the fruit-growers of this State, and, not to be 
misunderstood, I will explain to you what I 
mean by that. I do not think the bulk of the 
fruit-growers of California know what has been 
done and what is being done all over the State, 
in the way of multiplying means of producing 
fruit. I do not think the fruit men to-day 
know what stands behind them in the way of 
certain competition from the produce of other 
and new localities. I don't think they appre- 
ciate what we have got to handle, so as 
to shape our markets. Now, to-day's market 
may be satisfactory to a shipper in one locality, 
and next year's market may he an entirely dif- 
ferent thing, because his neighbor, who has 
heretofore been a non- producer, may wheel 
into line as a producer, and push along to the 
front and divide the market. It looks to me as 
if you have got to consider and provide against 
that very thing. The special matter that is to 
be considered here, at this meeting, is the desir- 
ability of a corporation like this, in connection 
with the interests of this locality, and I ask 
your attention to a number of points that bare 



upon that matter. I suppose that everybody in 
Southern California, interested in citrus fruits, 
has heard of the place called Florida, and 
that there is a production of fruit there of 
the same class as produced by you here, and 
perhaps, in a measure, with identical inter- 
ests. Those producers of fruits are far 
nearer to a market than we are of the far West, 
and far less burdened with difficulties of getting 
to a market, it is true that, in a great degree, 
they do not come to market at the same time 
that your producers do, but they are an element 
of competition with you, in certain seasons, and 
a class of difficulties that assail your interests 
are nearly identical with the difficulties that 
they have had, although their difficulties are 
in a very much less degree. Now I have here 
a circular which sets forth a prospectus of what 
is called the Florida Fruit Exchange. It is an 
organization that is gotten up by the citrus 
fruit producers in Florida, to protect them- 
selves from the difficulties that are al- 
most identical with those you have here. 
[Reading from a prospectus.] Then fol- 
lows the plan of the exchange which 
shows that it is proposed to handle all 
the fruits from the State under one general 
business organization, having its headquarters 
at Jacksonville, Florida, having a board of 
directors, nine in number, and having the 
business details intrusted to one general man- 
ager, also located at Jacksonville. Now, that 
is a brief outline of what arrangement the fruit- 
producers and shippers of Florida have been 
compelled to adopt under the condition of 
things that is not certainly as serious as that 
which exists here. I may remark that they 
have no such difficultj' with their freights, and 
they have really far better facilities of market- 
ing than you Southern California producers, 
and I do not think it admits of any argument 
that what has been necessary in their case is 
equally necessary with you. Perhaps I have 
wasted your time unnecessarily in elaborating 
that point, because it will be readily admitted 
by all of you that the necessity exists for some 
form of union or organization that will 
straighten these questions and redress your 
grievances. Now, I will take one step further 
in that same direction, as illustrating the prac- 
tical operation of such an organization as that 
just formed in Florida. I have here the in- 
structions that are given by the Florida Fruit 
Exchange for the regulation of shipments, 
showing somewhat more of the details of their 
proposed opex-ation. There is much of it that 
you will think is mere detail, but I do think 
that some of the facts that are enlarged upon, 
as to the necessity of care and selection and 
uniformity of packing and scrupulous pains- 
taking for the good repute of fruit, ought to 
come home to us in California. I hold that one 
of the first duties that should devolve upon the 
Fruit Union in California ought to be to incul- 
cate the idea that each and every producer, of 
whatever veriety of fruit, should work to raise 
the standard of repute of California fruit, 
either deciduous, citrus, or whatever it may 
be. Our reputation in the Eastern markets de- 
pends upon united action in that respect; more 
depends upon that than you think, and fruit- 
producers and the handlers of produce gener- 
ally are not sufficiently alive to it. 
Railroad Bates. 
The fast transportation heretofore of green 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



31 



fruits has been limited to passenger trains, 
with a charge of $6 a car, subject to all the 
vicissitudes of the overland passenger and ex- 
press trains, which was held not to be the best 
class of transportation, even were the rates 
thereon very much reduced. In seeking a so- 
lution of that question, the committee thought 
the best policy was to go immediately to head- 
quarters, and seek an interview with President 
Leland Stanford, of the Southern Pacific Com- 
pany, because all the elements of transpor- 
tation from this locality are controlled by Mr. 
Stanford's corporations. We sent him an in- 
vitation to meet us. He responded by meeting 
us in our offices, and he answered all questions 
we put to him, and volunteered a great many 
suggestions. The one controlling idea, in all 
he said, and he went out of his way to elabor- 
ate that, was that fruit men could not expect 
any better results from their interest as long as 
they handled it in the unbusicess-like way that 
they were doing. He said: "Gentlemen, or- 
ganize your business, make a business basis, so 
that the transportation companies can make 
some calculations and predicate something on 
it, and we then can give you what you need." 
He said further, "As to any increased facilities 
or decreased rates on passenger trains, that is 
out of the question. Our passenger trains are 
already overloaded, so that we seek rather to 
increase the rates and decrease the burden of 
business. The only way out of the difficulty 
is a special fruit train, and, when you come to 
consider a special fruit train, we need to have 
an organized body with whom we can negotiate 
that will assure us a load for those trains. 
You may think it is an easy matter for 
us to put on these trains, and say 
'here are your cars, load them up,' but 
the result, if we should do that, would be we 
would have twice the load we could carry one 
day and nothing the next day, so that it is en- 
tirely out of the question. However, I will 
promise you that if you organize your interests, 
and if you present yourself to us in such a shape 
that you can specifically contract for a freight 
train of 15 cars per day, or every other day, as 
the case may be, you shall have that train for 
$300 per car — on a fast schedule time. It shall 
be a train with all the improved appliances for 
the safe transportation of fruit, the cars shall 
not be fitted with the ordinary freight plat- 
form, but they shall have the Miller plat- 
form, to take the shock off the stoppages, 
and the train shall be run on a fast schedule 
time, not stopping at way stations except 
for coal and water. By that means, being in 
motion all the time, it will keep up a cir- 
culation of air that will be far better for the 
fruit, and you may be sure that the delivery of 
the fruit will be better than it can possibly be 
by the present system of passenger trains. 
And, further, in response to a specific inquiry, 
he said he would give us the same special fa- 
cility of the slow freight train, with a specific 
time table, which might be nearly as fast as the 
special fruit train at times, and at other times 
not so fast, at $200 a car, and that, having con- 
tracted for them, the trains were in our control. 
We could load them as we pleased, and that, in 
order to avoid any features of monopoly that 
naight be alleged against them, if anybody else 
wanted a train they could have it, too, the idea 
being that a "special fruit train" is a matter 
that would have to be arranged by contract. 



Further than that he said: "We believe in the 
fruit interest of California as the great interest 
of the State, if properly organized and devel- 
oped. We believe that it can be developed so 
as to overshadow every other every other in- 
terest of the State, and to be proportionately 
freight- producing for us, and, in that view, we 
want to do everything we can to encourage it; 
we cannot encourage it as it is, because there 
is nothing specific that we can encourage; but, 
when organized and put on a business like 
basis, you will find that you can have anything 
that business-like reason calls for. If $300 a 
c r, on fast time, does not enable you to dis- 
pose of your fruits, does not enable you to fill 
the Eastern markets and to feed these 50,000,- 
000 that want your fruit, we shall know what 
to do." Now, it seems to me, therefore, that 
the transportation question is solved, just 
as soon as we can get together in a co- 
operative organizatioQ. Now we have 
nothing further to urge in that connection, we 
think that it might safely be left to the com- 
mon sense of the fruit producers of California, 
whether they will avail themselves of such fa- 
cilities and advantages or not, for the only 
thing thab they are called upon to do to secure 
them is to 

Unite in an Organization, 
Which practically costs them so little. Still 
further, there may be said to be other consider- 
ations connected with the transportation ques- 
tion that may be counted on to materially in- 
crease the direct advantages in special fruit 
train transportation. Thus, when damage is 
met that is not the fault of the shipper, and 
does not come by the act of God or the stress 
of elements, it is very apparent that, in hand- 
ling all such matters, we can get a great deal 
better satisfaction and more considerate treat- 
ment, as an organization, than we can get as 
individuals. I think it is apparent, too, that 
the stronger organization we have, the better 
fruit producers will fare. This may truly be 
said as to the power of united organization. 
Something has been said here as to the need of 
legislation for protection against insect pests. 
Now, suppose any one locality wants legisla- 
tion, goes to the legislature and asks it, or goes 
to congress. You will go home, feeling that 
you have been insulted all the time by the way 
you have been treated; but if a demand comes 
from the united fruit- groivers of California — 
not less than 10,000 in number, as they prob- 
ably are now — if it is put into proper, legiti- 
mate shape, with the suggestion that there is 
an organization behind it, my impression is 
that you will get a very speedy and favorable 
response. I think that in all questions of leg- 
islation, of dealing with transportation compan- 
ies, of local good government, of taxes, 
of assessment of your property, the time 
has come to say that the fruit pro- 
ducers of California are going to organ- 
ize to protect themselves, and that they know 
what power lies in a united organization, and 
that they mean, within the bounds of reason, 
to avail themselves of that power, and to exer- 
cise it; I say that is a perfectly legitimate thing 
to do, I say that the individual fruit-grower 
would be neglectful of his interests if he did 
not so do. There is a whole mass of questions 
lying behind those I have mentioned which 
would suggest themselves to any intelligent 
thinker, and which would receive a favorable 



32 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



answer at the hands of a united organized 
power far better than by individual action. 
The question discussed this forenoon, of cheap 
and uniform packing can be easily solved when 
all act together. Nobody need be hurt, but 
equal rights to all can be secured in a very lit- 
tle time under an organization. 

Now, much has been said here as to local dis- 
tinctions that procure, as to the different sea- 
sons in your particular locality for fruit ship- 
ment, as to the necessity, in short, of a local 
organization to adequately represent your inter- 
ests. I am not surprised at it, but I candidly 
think that the propositions are not based upon 
solid reason; you commence to ship your oranges, 
as I understand it, in January and you ship till 
May. If you have a local organization you 
have got to take care of that organization, you 
have got to take care of its officers for the 
whole year to secure their services for those 
four months. In the first place, as I under- 
stand it, all propositions that have been ad- 
vanced for a local organization necessarily call 
for a very much larger capital than you would 
need to contribute to a general State organiza- 
tion; inasmuch as you have got to create dupli- 
cate facilities and carry duplicate capital; you 
have got to carry substantially for the entire 
year the officers and the official machinery for 
the business of four months of the year that 
might just as well serve you for four months, 
and serve the rest of the State for the other 
months. My business experience divides this 
proposition into this shape. Suppose the or- 
ganization enlists the confidence of the whole 
State, and suppose it goes immediately to work: 
the first thing to engage it would be the hand- 
ling of the citrus fruits, and in a couple of 
months, I understand, your shipments will be 
sufficient to load special trains, and the con- 
templated arrangement would give you the ad- 
vantages of the Southern or Northern route as 
you might prefer, and, if you have an insuffi- 
ciency of fruit you can, by joining with the de- 
ciduous fruit shipments of Northern California 
make up your quota of the special trains. 
Later in the season, when the weather is warm, 
you, for obvious reasons would prefer the 
cooler route, and probably would avail your- 
selves of the Northern route, and, later still, 
when the bulk of your crop is shipped, and you 
could not yourselves make up a traiu, you 
would be very glad to join in making up a train 
with the deciduous fruits of the North, so I 
think you would decidedly profit in that regard. 
The organization, the officers, and the business 
machinery of the Union, after handling your 
business for those months could then immedi- 
ately proceed to attend to other profitable busi- 
ness, in other sections. From the months of 
May to October, and sometimes into November, 
they could be working on the deciduous fruit 
shipments of the North, and earning profits, so 
that the persons necessary to conduct your 
business, as a local distinct shipping business in 
its proper season would really be no burden to 
you in those months, but would do other busi- 
ness than yours and earn supporting profits" 
There would be two months in the year, per- 
haps, when there would be neither business 
from the South or the North, and, in my judg- 
ment, that would be far less time than is desir- 
able, and could be usefully used in the study 
and development of the Eastern markets. 

Now whatever you may say, however you 



may view the fruit marketing proposition, it 
eventually comes down to the consumer ; you 
can't get your money for fruit unless somebody 
takes it to you. After you organize your busi- 
ness so that you can make up the special trains 
to get the fruit to the consumer on these re- 
duced rates of freight, which we all concede 
will be reasonable and justify good expectation 
for the future, the question is. Where is the con- 
sumer ? It looks to me that a very consider- 
able amount of work has got to be done in the 
East, to make the consumption adequate to 
the supply of California fruit, for my judgment 
is that the fruit production in California is nat- 
urally increasing more largely than the con- 
sumption in the East, that is, if left to work it- 
self out. Now we have got to set to work in 
the East, and we have got to put men there to 
work out the details of the business throughout 
the year as we ship. Now you start your cars 
when you think they are in good order, and 
you trust Providence that they may get through 
in good order and find profitable sale, Some of 
you have had occasion to notice when you get 
your account sales that they are reported to 
have come in other than in good order, and to 
feel as you would like to know of your own 
knowledge whether that was really the case or 
not. Well, that may have been an unfounded 
feeling, and nevertheless a proper organization 
with its reliable Eastern agents should be made 
to see to all those things in the East, and to 
enable you to know for a certainty that the 
management of the cars and the trains will be 
such that they can be inspected, in proper 
form, before arriving at the destination and 
being unloaded, and to know what the condition 
of the fruit is, and to report accordingly, and, 
in the meantime, all who are employed 
in the corporation, as such Eastern agents, can 
be working up those Eastern markets. Now, 
in the course of the work that I have done in 
connection with the California Fruit Union, as 
secretary, I have been receiving a great many 
letters — you would be astonished to see how 
many, bearing upon the proposition of the de- 
velopment of the Eastern markets from men 
here and East, who hear of this fruit producers' 
movement, and who are familiar with the East- 
ern markets. They all agree that nothing less 
than a fully equipped and continuously work- 
ing organization can do justice to the subject 
of marketing California fruit. You may locally 
be able to solve the question of transportation 
for a portion of the year, but if you do you will 
do it under far greater difficulties than you can 
under the management of a general State 
Union, and you will do it in comparative dis- 
regard of the development of Eastern markets. 

I think I have already alluded to the rela- 
tion of your shipping for certain mouths to 
northern shipments, but I may repeat that your 
earliest summer shipments, in the judgment of 
those of your largest producers with whom I 
have conversed, would stand far better as tak- 
ing part in the shipments of the "special fruit 
trains" by the Northern route, with the early 
northern fruits than they can by themselves on 
your southern route, and that is so important 
a consideration that it should not be lost sight 
of. 

I have already suggested the comparison be- 
tween the effective work to be accomplished by 
the general organization with that of the local 
organization. I will recur to that topic to say 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



33 



that the work of the general organization, will 
be continuously for eight months in the year, in 
shipping, and for the other four months in the 
development of markets, working up 
statistical information and doing vari- 
ous other things that are of great 
importance to your interests, although you may 
consider them secondary to the actual shipping. 
Now, I do not think they are secondary; I 
think that if nothing else could be accom- 
plished by such an organization as is proposed 
than the statistical districting of this State as 
to its products, knowing who the producer is, 
where he is, and what lie produces, when it is 
coming into bearing, and when he will be ready 
to ship, and generally all such information 
that that alone would this year or the next year 
be cheap to any and all producers at the cost of 
the subscription to this Union; and back of all 
that is the information as to the Eastern mar- 
kets, and the two together would be far more 
than equivalent to anything you would have to 
pay for it. I would point out again that the 
whole idea and theory of this Union is that 
each fruit-grower contribu'es a dollar an acre 
for a certain class of benefits, be they more or 
leas, and that such contribution is represented 
by the profit-paying stock. But, taking the 
worst view, and supposing that the money 
were given away, I do not think that any of 
you should hesitate one moment if you were 
approached by a competent, reliable man, who 
should offer to you just these advantages, for a 
fee of one dollar an acre, to be absolutely paid 
out by you. I think you would consider it 
cheap. 

Now, I have heard inquiry as to responsi- 
bility on the subscription of stock. The re- 
sponsibility is solely this : Our law provided 
that the liability in subscribing to and taking 
stock in a corporation shall not exceed the pro- 
portion of the amount of the capital stock that 
is subscribed in the corporation. A party 
taking SlO in stock may lose his stock and $10 
more in it as the utmost. If there be any 
bugbear in that it is very slight in propor- 
tion to the interest and benefits involved. 
There is another feature of your situation here 
that I do not think is sufiiciently presented as 
to your local interests. You probably all know 
that you have a large acreage in other than cit- 
rus fruits in these southern counties; that, in 
the next two or three years, you will be large 
producers of peaches, apricots and pears, and 
some other varieties. The tendency, as I see 
here from year to year, is to increase your area 
of deciduous fruits. Now, it may be said that 
there is a large portion of those that are planted 
with reference to drying, but the fact still re- 
mains that it is very desirable to have the op- 
portunity to ship them as green fruits, and it 
is held by those conversant with the subject 
that all those fruits may go East and find 
a ready market under proper conditions. 
Here, as over the rest of the State, we 
have not yet begun to appreciate what 
may be done in the shipment of apples, 
or to establish any proper system of shipment. 
Perhaps, in some cases, under 'the advantages 
of the cold storage car that is now being offered 
to shippers at the moderate rate of a quarter of 
a cent a pound, we may reach many markets 
we do not now dream of with perishable fruits, 
so that it is not a proper view of the case to 
restrict your ideas and conclusions solely to 



citrus fruits. I hear much, locally, as to the 
various districts here, with reference to the 
supposed preference in the quality of produc- 
tion of each location. My idea in reference to 
that is that the whole thing comes down to one 
common fact, and that is the Eastern market. 
It is not what you say, or do, or think, here. 
It is the Eastern market, the consuming ele- 
ment, that controls. Now the man that pro- 
duces, in any given locality, a better fruit than 
his neighbor will get the benefit of it; his brand 
gives it a value, and it consequently stands by 
itself and sells upon its merit, and he gets the 
benefit of it. It may be well said that it is de- 
sirable for every producer of California fruit, as 
you saw so strongly stated in the Florida ship- 
ping directions, by every means in his power to 
raise the standard of California fruits as a 
class, so that they may go forth with the very 
highest possible reputation. I do not think it 
answers for any one community to say we can 
take care of ourselves. If a man produces the 
very best of a product and his neighbor is send- 
ing to market an article just a little less excel- 
lent in character, it is sure to have an efifect 
upon the price of the first, unless there is some 
regulation, some influence that equalizes the 
tendencies of competition. I have seen, in the 
six weeks that I spent going around in your 
various localities here, a number of instances 
among my friends, where they found out, after 
the evil was too late to remedy, that their 
neighbors had been doing them very serious 
damage in competing with them without being 
aware of it, without intending to do it, a thing 
that could not happen under proper organiza- 
tion. Nor do I thinK the fact that any region 
is better in quality of its produce than another 
justifies it in expecting to stand as well by 
itself, and distinct, as it can stand in a union 
such as is proposed. I think, of course, that 
such benefits may be secured by a local union; 
but, as I before said, at very much greater cost 
than a State Union. As to the status of Cali- 
fornia citrus fruits in the Eastern markets, it is 
evident that there needs be much work done 
upon them, and I think the stronger organiza- 
tion we have to do that work the better. It is 
an undeniable commercial fact that, although 
we did carry away many good prizes at the 
New Orleans exposition, the bulk of Eastern 
consumers give preference to the Florida or- 
anges, if both it and the California 
are in the market at the same time. 
Very fortunately for us they are not 
competing throughout the season, although 
they do compete to some extent? Now, 1 think 
work can usefully be done in doing away with 
that prejudice and upbuilding the general repu- 
tation in the East among the consumers of 
California oranges as such, and I think the 
work that should be so done would bear profit- 
able fruit in the organization sales, and in all 
that relates to California fruit. We must work 
for the highest possible reputation that can be 
achieved; we must woik here with the produc- 
ers to induce them to make their product such 
as would entitle it to that repute, and to pack 
it in a way that would do justice to itself, and 
to send it to market in a way that it would 
arrive in such a condition that it will secure for 
it the first place as California fruit, and that is 
the work for a general organization. No local 
organization can do it, for the moment you 
submit it to a local organization you act upon 



34 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



this idea. "Our market will take care of itself, 
and the rest of the State can take care of itself" 
— that is what it would come to. I have heard 
a good deal as to the best methods and neces- 
sary expenditures for freeing our trees of the 
insect pests, and I am impelled to ask of what 
value may they be, or the usefulness of any 
such expenditures made in that direction, if we 
do not settle the other proposition of what we 
can do with the fruit when we raise it, and, 
while that subject is very important, yet the 
market question is of paramount importance, 
and should be dealt with accordingly. 

Among the necessary and profitable results 
■ of such an organization as suggested, might be 
mentioned the development of the business 
in dry fruit. That is a business that 
may be largely developed under proper 
handling; for if you 'go on with your 
dried fruit shipments, without some efforts to 
prepare markets in advance, you will find you 
have overstocked the markets to such an extent 
that you will get little or nothing for them. 
Another advantage that you would find to grow 
out of this organization would be the prompt 
handling of the question of reclamations. I am 
aware that certain classes of losses have been 
thrown entirely upon the shipper that, under 
proper regulations, could not have been thrown 
upon him, and I believe that, with a distinctive 
organization, with proper management, you will 
get benefits in that way. 

There is one consideration that >eems to me, 
in one sense, to transcend all these details, and 
that is the capital value' of our property. It 
will come home to almost any of you who pos- 
sess property that when you can run your busi- 
ness, so that you may know that your neighbor 
is not practically running against you, so that 
you may know that profitable results may be 
reached through your products, you have got 
something on which you can stand financially. 
I don't think it is a bold statement, I don't 
think it is one that any of you will call in ques- 
tion, to say that such is not generall)' the fact 
to-day; I know that such is not the fact with 
reference to the property I am interested in. I 
know that absolutely it has not, under the 
present condition of things, a market value 
half what I counted it worth a year ago, and, 
as I said before, that is my great impelling mo- 
tive in taking hold of this movement so seri- 
ously. Now I say that the very day you have 
consummated a united organization, and the 
broader the better, then you settle your prop- 
erty values, so that, in comparison to the 
gains you would make in that way, the 
contribution that you are called upon to make 
to the capital of the Union is ridiculously small 
— so ridiculously small as to be contemptible. 
I have said something in regard to working up 
information as to the markets. I do not think 
it is any disparagement of those who, in the 
Eastern markets, have handled our fruits here- 
tofore—I say that they have not been able to 
furnish us any information as to what those 
markets were or might be. It is not to be ex- 
pected that they can go far out of the channels 
of their daily business in disposing of such 
fruits as come to them, and filling such orders 
as come to them; and the matter of the crea- 
tion of new markets, of the opening up of ex- 
tensions of present markets, was hardly to be 
expected. It is a matter that requires the in- 
vestment of time and money, and that matter, 



in my judgment, can only be effectively accom- 
plished by an organization that is formed — not 
for to-day, not for to-morrow — but to work 
continuously for the purpose of making a mar- 
ket that will last and grow for all time, and 
knowing that behind it is this vast area in Cal- 
ifornia that is coming in and being built up on 
the Eastern consumers. We have got to do it 
by working up Eastern consumers; we can't do 
it by anj' easy means, we can't do it by any in- 
dividual operation, and I don't think you can 
do it by any local action. 

Now, gentlemen and ladies, Mr. President 
while I would apologize to you for taking so 
much of your time, I really have had a very 
extensive subject to go over, and being con- 
scious that I have only just touched upon a 
good many points, I hold myself at the dispo- 
sal of any gentleman who has any special in- 
quiry to make, to respond to it if I am able. 

Discussion on Fruit Union. 

A Delegate: I would like to ask one ques- 
tion: Suppose I have five shares and five acres 
and sell my five acres, what becomes of my five 
shares? 

Mr. Livermore: The proposition is that 
stock should be transferred only to parties 
owning equivalent acres. If you sell your five 
acres to a man who does not own five acres of 
producing area, such as comes within the pro- 
vision of the stock, why, he would lose his 
right to vote on that stock; he would not lose 
his property in it, but he would not have a 
right to come into our meetings and vote. He 
would have his proper interest in the stock and 
draw hi° dividends on it, but it is distinctively 
intended to provide that stock shall not be 
voted that does not hold an interest equivalent 
in producing lands. A man buying the land is 
eligible to hold the stock. 

A Delegate: My idea was, supposing he re- 
fused to take my five shares — supposing he re- 
fused to receive them? 

Mr. Livermore: You might be in such a po- 
sition as to lose five dollars. 

Dr. Cougar: I would ask the gentleman to 
correct the matter in regard to the shipment of 
oranges. Los Angeles has not shipped 1100 
cars; Riverside must have shipped 400 and San 
Gabriel at least 175 carloads. 

Mr. Livermore: I will merely say in ex- 
planation that the railroad reports have placed 
under the heading of Los Angeles all the ship- 
ments from this district, and do not give credit 
to any of the other points at all, b^ause I sup- 
pose they take that to be the terminal point. I 
think that is a proper correction. 

A Delegate : There is another question I 
would like to ask : suppose I should take five 
shares of stock: would I be permitted then to 
sell my crop, providing I thought I could do it 
to better advantage to some other parties at 
home? 

Mr. Livermore: For local consumption. 
The idea is that so far as crops have a destina- 
tion to Eastern shippers whether direct or in- 
direct, it should be through the Union so as to 
protect the Eastern shippers. 

A Delegate : What would be the consequence 
supposing I should sell to some local dealer in 
Los Angeles, for instance, and he should make a 
shipment outside of the organization ? 

Mr. Livermore: The consequence would be 
that he would pay twice as much freight as the 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



35 



special trains of the organization. You under- 
stand that the privileges of special trains are 
proposed to be limited to the organization. We 
should expect any party who should take stock 
with us, would do it with the idea of faithfully 
observing the common interest of protecting 
Eastern shipments. It would not be to his 
interest to let his fruit go in the direction where 
it could come in conflict with our Eastern ship- 
ments. If it should be sold to an outsider it 
would not compete because they can't put it 
on the special trains and I think the result of 
this union would be to control aVjsolutely all 
Eastern shipments. Unquestionably you can 
sell to anybody you desire to. 

A Delegate : Would $300, according to Sen- 
ator Stanford's proposition, pay the freight on a 
carload of fruit to New York City, or simply to 
Chicago ? 

Mr. Livermore : The rate is only to Chicago, 
but with proportional rate to other points, less 
to shorter points and more to Atlantic ports. 

Mr. Williams : Suppose we make 14 car- 
loads of fruit on Wednesday and can't get the 
other car. What are we going to do then ? 

Mr. Livermore: Well, we had this question 
up before Governor Stanford, and we asked him 
if that rule was cast-iron and whether we have 
got to live up to it and pay the freight whether 
we filled it or not. He said: "Gentlemen, I can't 
in advance, lay down the rule, but here is the 
fact: If you are organized and doing business in 
an organized and business-like way and find 
that you do not just reach the point of 15 cars, 
we shan't trouble you as an organization." That 
is about what he said, meaning thereby that he 
would do the best he could, and if we would do 
the best we could as an organization we should 
be dealt with with leniency and tolerance. I con- 
sider from that that if we could not make up 
the full 15 cars on any given day he would take 
what we could make. 

Mr. Williams: Another question : Suppose 
in my way I do not care to ship through the or- 
ganization and want to go to Mr. Porter. Shall 
I pay Messrs. Porter Bros, their 10 per cent 
commission and the organization 10 per cent 
commission? 

Mr. Livermore: Not if you are as good a 
business man as I take you to be. This has 
been about the rule in handling the Eastern 
shipment of fruit; the producers in their vari- 
ous localities will be' staying home minding 
their business. They do not know what other 
localities are producing, but would just as likely 
be impressed with the idea that what was 
scarce with them was scarce everywhere, and 
some of these people would come out about a 
month before the season for shipping, and they 
make it their business to do what our local pro- 
ducers are not doing; they keep their eyea open 
and their mouths shut, and when they get 
through they know just what are the facts with 
reference to the production of the whole ship- 
ping area of California, This is what I know 
they do, and they have done it repeatedly under 
my observation. They then go to a given lo- 
cality where they think the fruit is most plenti- 
ful, and they pick out the man who they think 
is most in the need of money and likely to be 
the weakest, and get a standard price from him 
and so go all around and use that as the cri- 
terion, so that the producer is practically com- 
peting with such a condition of things all the 
time and has been. 



Dr. Congar: There is another point, perhaps 
it has slipped your mind, but I will try to bring 
it out; it is in regard to the competing lines of 
railroad. Now, fortunately or unfortunately, 
for Southern California, we have, according to 
the papers, two lines over which we may be 
able to ship our fruit; one is styled the Atlantic 
and Pacific and the other is the Southern Pa- 
cific. Now is it not possible that Mr. Stanford 
and the Atlantic people might have a falling out 
and it might work as it sometimes does, that 
the Atlantic and Pacific p6ople should say to 
Mr. Stanford, "We are going to try and secure 
our proportion, or perhaps we are going to se- 
cure the control of this fruit." Now if we should 
have been bound up in the meantime with the 
Southern Pacific Company how can we extricate 
ourselves from that contract when the other line 
of communication might say they will take our 
fruit for one-half, and if we join the association 
where we are absolutely bound, we lose the op- 
portunity, perhaps, of taking the advantage of 
these circumstances. Now this has just come 
to pass. We do not know that it will work out 
as practically as I have suggested, but there 
have been intimations that point a little in that 
direction. While I am on my feet I wish to 
say this on behalf of Pasadena, Los Angeles, 
San Gabriel and other points, that knowing the 
people out there, being myself one of the oldest 
settlers, I doubt very much whether, under the 
existing circumstances, we can get the consent 
of the people to go into the organization de- 
scribed this afternoon, although I intend to 
join it myself, and, may I also be induced to join 
others here. We have got to make this matter 
clear and if there are any difficulties connected 
with it they must be explained away. 

Mr. Livermore : As to the matter of rail- 
road competition, either present or possibly in 
the future, I believe that a close understanding 
does exist between the corporations that does 
away with any probability of competition. It 
is a well understood fact, for all that the news- 
papers may say, that there are binding caners 
signed that close that up, and even supposing 
the contingency that a subsequent rupture 
might come that would bring about a competing 
interest here, I do not doubt that in any con- 
tract the proviso might be made that the rates 
would be subject to subsequent modification 
from competing interests, and that is one of the 
things that such an organization could accom- 
plish when a local organization could not. 

Mr. Milco : Some time ago I wanted to 
ship a carload of goods to New York to our 
office there, and I applied to Mr. Gray to find 
out whether he would not take our goods 
through New Orleans and by water communica- 
tion to New York for less money. I said : 
"You run the whole line clear through and you 
only own a portion of the other road that runs 
as far as Ogden: you may just as well give us 
a lower rate." He said: "No, we can't do 
any such thing; we would have to submit such 
a proposition to the Transcontinental Union and 
tell them all about what you desired, and 
every one of these companies gets a certain pro- 
portion, no matter what company secures the 
freight." It is immaterial whether the A. & P. 
takes the oranges from Los Angeles or whether 
the S. P. takes it. There is no danger of the 
A, & P., or any other railroad, at present, trying 
to run over this big railway association that ex- 
ists now, because I think they have got it 



36 



FIFTH ANJJFAL CONVENTTOTST 



pretty well fixed to run it for a few years 
longer. 

Mr. Rose: There have been several meetings 
of this kind, and these same questions come up 
from time to time. They are all €|uestions that 
can be arranged hereafter. Now, if I would go 
to anyone of you, you would say this is a good 
thing; but when you come to act you are slow, 
so that it would seem as if it were a very bad 
thing. Is it a fact that we want an 
association in this city or eonnty, or 
in this district for any purpose? if 3 ou say 
yes to that, then why don't you do something 
to that end. Here is a Fruit Union in the 
State, which certainly can have some members, 
even of each locality; it certainly can do some 
good for any locality, because, substantially, the 
expenses of any one locality will be the same as 
for the whole State. If we organize here an as- 
sociation for the protection of uranges and 
lemons, what is it we have to do, I ask you? 
We have to have somebody to distribute this 
fruit, and not only one man, but several men. 
You have got to have one man in every princi- 
pal city in the United States, and in order to 
place it there for sale and get the lowest com- 
mission and the best men, you have got to sell 
it yourself, by your own agents. If you com- 
bine with the North with their deciduous fruits, 
the same people will do all the work. I ask 
you for yourselves, isn't it a fact that the same 
men can do all this? Then, if it is desirable, 
what is the risk in this thing? You say that 
you have 20 acres of fruit trees, and you wish 
to market the fruit; you have to pay $10 or .|20 
at the outside, and that is not likely to be called 
for at once. If you will come into this thing 
you won't have to pay half of it. And what 
4o you get for it? You have the right to ship 
with the fruit-growers, and that in itself will 
more than pay you your $10 or $20. As far as 
what Dr. Congar says as to another railroad 
company that may ship cheaper, there is no 
compulsion to force us to take the train at all. 
It is only when we want a train, when it is pos- 
sible for us to make up a train, that we have it. 
That is not individually to us, but it is to the 
whole State of California. If I have a train I 
can have the same rate, but by having the 
State organization, by combining a great many 
shippers, we may make up the train. That is 
the object of the organization, and if we have 
the opportunity to do that we will be sensible 
to do so. We can go to anybody that will do 
our work the cheapest, and to one railroad or 
to the other. 

So far as General Stanford is concerned, he 
met this committee not as a railroad man, not 
as a man to make money out of this affair, but 
he met them as a man who had the good of the 
people at heart. [Applause.] He met them be- 
cause he wanted to see this State flourish and 
he said to them there are millions of people that 
will eat your fruit, if you will only present it to 
them in a way that they can buy it. Of course 
they have their fruits, but what are they ? We 
have a different variety of grapes, on this 
coast ; they are different from any they raise 
back there. Our California apricots are better 
than those they have^ and we can place these 
fruits in the market there and at reasonable 
prices, not at 50 cents a pound, but at such a 
price as we can sell them. 

Now you gentlemen are talking all the time 
about oranges and lemons. What do I see when 



I go abroad in some portions of our own county? 
I see fields of apricots, fields of apple trees, of 
prunes, of plams. What are these people to do 
by and by? They will want a market and 
they will hnd that they are not having as good 
a market as they would like to have. If you 
have a local organization, can yon take care of 
them too ? As far as oranges or lemons are con- 
cerned, it is a monopoly to this extent that you 
have to have water, for substantially you can- 
not raise oranges or lemons without irrigation 
and we have one acre perhaps in a hundred that 
we can irrigate in these southern counties. 
What are you going to do- with the rest of it ?' 
People are continually conaing in here and set- 
tling our plains and making gardens without any 
water, and what are they planting ? Planting 
apricots, pears, apples, peaches, etc. And what 
are they going to do ? That is not an easy thing 
to say, and if anything is done you must do it 
yourself. The trouble is people foresee too 
many difficulties. You say this may be wrong, 
and that may be wrong and you do not do any- 
thing. There may be some little things to look 
about and all that sort of thing, but this Fruit 
Union is to be advantageous. By means of it 
we will have privileges and can, by reason of be- 
ing able to load cars, distribute our fruit nearly 
all over the United States by having agents iui 
all the cities, and there will be an opportunity 
to sell to the best advantage. Gentlemen, you. 
will find the necessity of coming to this, and' 
why don't you do it now ? 

Dr. Frey: I think that the most conserva- 
tive fruitgrower in the section of country that 
I come from about believes that it is time to do 
something, or we will have to leave fruit-grow- 
ing to some benevolent individual who is in- 
clined to grow fruit for the good of the country. 
I don't like the worms to eat up my fruit, and 
I think it is just about as bad as to raise fruit 
and give it away. I think all the difiiculty 
there is in picking the fruit and packing the 
fruit can be taken care of in quick succession. 
We can pick the fruit and we can pack it, and 
we can load the cars, but we can't dispose of 
the fruit; neither can each locality send an 
agent East to make arrangements for disposing 
of the fruit. Therefore I say, and I think 
every one must say, that it is necessary to have 
some strong body that can do two things: one 
is to dispose of the fruit and the other is to 
make arrangements for the transportation. In 
my locality we load about five cars a week. 
Suppose the railroad company was to load five 
cars a week: they would say we don't care 
about five cars a week; but if they were to load 
100 cars it would make a difference. Again, if 
you have agents in the East, as you ought to 
have, traveling about all the time, when the 
fruit comes to a place that is fully stocked they 
would send it to some place that is not over- 
stocked, and then have a man there to see that 
the cars are unpacked and the boxes not all 
jammed to pieces. Your agent is traveling on 
a salary, and he is discharged when he don't do 
his duty. Then we are not so much at the 
mercy of the commission men. They all, you 
know, are honest men, but then it don't 
do any harm to watch an honest man, and 
if we have agents in that way traveling 
about and picking out some of these commission 
merchants that we think are partially honest, 
and if they don't do their duty we would say to 
them, "You can't handle anymore California 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



37 



fruit," and I think they are very likely to be 
have well. If you should say to them, "Now 
you can't have any of our fruit," they would 
say, "There is plenty more;" but if they knew 
they could get no more, they would know what 
to do. Therefore I say the main body would 
do us a great deal of good, and I think it would 
cost very little. But I see there are some diffi- 
culties in the way. One is that California is a 
very large State. Those who have not traveled 
over it do not know that, but it is, and the 
central body in San Francisco is very far off 
from the northern part of the State, and very 
far from the southern part of the State. Now 
a body bitting in San Francisco would seem 
very vague and distant to parties in the southern 
part of the State. They do not know them, 
and do not know whether to believe in them or 
not, but I think they can be got over. I don't 
think there is any difficulty to have sub- societies 
in the different localities, say Los Angeles, 
Stockton and Sacramento and further north of 
the fruit-growing interests. I do not believe in 
a president and secretary salaried; they are all 
very fine for the officer, but not for the society. 
and in each of these places we can have a board 
of trustees who do not want anything except in 
some cases their traveling expenses. These 
men would be in direct communication with the 
parent society in San Francisco. If we had any 
communication we could make it to Sacramento 
instead of to San Francisco, and if we had a 
carload of fruit, instead of sending to San 
Francisco we might send to Sacramento; but 
at the same time, the main business that we 
want to do is to sell our fruit, and that is done 
by the parent society. I can see the good of 
that and I can see that all these little details 
can be made right by it. I can see the difficul- 
ties, but I think they can all be obviated. 

Mr. Sallee : This question of the importance 
of organization needs no discussion. I, in com- 
mon with every fruit grower in the State of 
California, "have thought a good deal upon the 
subject, and we are all a unit upon that ques- 
tion. We know that the time has come when 
an organization is imperative. It is not neces- 
sary to discuss that question any more; the 
great object to be obtained is the distribution 
and sale of the fruit in the East. That is 
where the money comes from; that is the great 
object to be attained in this organization. In 
oraer to accomplish that object, there are two 
other things necessary, and one is the collecting 
of statistics; the other is the loading, picking 
and shipping the fruit. Those two things are 
necessary in order to accomplish the one great 
object of the di&tribution and sale of the fruit, 
for from the distribution and sale of our fruit 
we receive the benefits. It is this that is for 
the welfare of the fruit-producer, and upon this 
principle generally I am a democrat and I am 
in favor of States' rights. The only question 
is, is this practicable; has there been a practi- 
cable solution of this great problem of the dis- 
tribution and sale of fruit? Now, these gentle- 
men come down here with less than five per 
cent of the fruit-growers of Northern California 
subscribed to this organization, representing to 
us the accomplishment of that great object in 
the North, and this is the object that must be 
accomplished. Every fruit-grower knows it 
must be accomplished; the question is, how are 
we to get at it ? We have to go on the princi- 
ple of States' rights. Where is the American 



citizen that would say that this Government 
would be a practical thing were Congress to 
have the supervision of every State in this vast 
Union ? We must go upon the same principle 
that the Government goes; we must have 
States; we must do what is suggested in the 
paper read as by-laws, that the general man- 
ager shall district the State into fruit-producing 
districts. Now, he has the cart before the 
horse; these districts must create the general 
manager, just as the States of the Union 
constitute Congress; the district corpora- 
tion and organizations must constitute the 
central organization, they have commenced at 
the wrong end of it, there is no mistake about 
that. Now, what is practicable? It is a practi- 
cable thing that in every locality there can be an 
organization formed. There is no man .in this 
house who will deny that, and in many locali- 
ties there have been organizations formed. I 
have a paper in my pocket here from up in the 
Sacramento valley; so in Santa Ana valley and 
Santa Barbara and San Gabriel valley, and 
there are others. Now, they represent^ the 
States, and all these can be thrown into a cen- 
tral corporation, and let that corporation be 
represented in a Congress with representatives 
upon the basis of the strength of this individual 
corporation, and that forms the central power. 
That central power would have little to do, for 
each individual corporation makes its own by- 
laws and manages its own local affairs. It does 
not look to San Francisco for anything of that 
kind. We from Southern California do not 
want to send to San Francisco for a man to tell 
us how to pack our oranges. We cannot do it, 
and a man from San Francisco will not have 
time to come down here and superintend the 
packing of our fruits in Southern California, 
neither will he have time to go to the extreme 
North. These things must be done by the local 
legislature, and it is the local legislature that 
must create the central power, and in that way 
it will get strength as a central organization. 
They will negotiate with the railroad for ship- 
ping facilities, they will have the management 
and appointment for the attainment of this cen- 
tral idea, for which we are all working — the dis- 
tribution and sale of fruit. In that way, and 
in that way alone can this organization 
be formed. In the South we cannot make 
a better showing than this is from 
the North where they are not able to 
show five per cent of the fruit-growers have 
subscribed to the capital stock of the cen- 
tral organization, but give us two weeks' time in 
the individual corporation, and we can come 
here with 95 per cent of the fruit-growers of 
Southern California. 

Mr. Rose : I was up at San Francisco but 
did not propose to go into the Fruit Union of 
any kind. State or local. I was courteously 
treated and asked a good many questions, and 
discussed matters then with them. And when 
it came to the matter of taking stock, there were 
present as many or more than here now, and all 
those gentlemen took stock and they were rep- 
resentive men of the State too. They have not 
had time as yet to ask their constituents to join 
them since that time. I believe it to be desir- 
able to have the State organization where the 
same men can do the whole business and could 
do more if there was more to be done. 

Mr. Hatch: At this last meeting in San 
Francisco, there was an earnest interested 



38 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



assembly of those who own fruit in California, 
who were desirous of forming an organization, 
and when we found that that would be done, 
we decided upon one organization, by means of 
which the fruits of California could be distribu- 
ted throughout the markets of the East, and 
competition might be avoided; and that with 
two organizations this could not be done. To 
my mind, competition was the main point to 
avoid. That was the conclusion to which we 
were forced by the result last season by a re- 
duction of $200 a car. I was laughed at for say- 
ing we would send too much fruit into certain 
localities in the Eastern markets. Now that 
competition must be avoided, and the fruit be 
placed in the hands of one distributing house, 
or agency, call it what you may, to dispose of 
so that no place would have too much, and that 
each place should have all it required. With 
two organizations, call it a fruit-growers' union, 
a co-operative union or anything else, they will 
come into antagonism, because there is no lo- 
cality in California but which, to some extent, 
produces the same fruits that another locality 
does. In your section here, the deciduous fruits 
will form no small part of your production in 
a very short time, and oranges from the north 
•will compete with you more than you believe, 
for there are many localities there where fine 
oranges are raised, and they may yet success- 
fully compete with you. You may put trans- 
portation down very low, but to avoid competi- 
tion is the main thing. I claim that if our 
fruits were put in the East at the rate of one 
dollar a ton, or if transportation would be such 
as to pay us five dollars a ton for the privilege 
of transporting it, that unless it was profusely 
distributed, we would have no greater success 
than we had this year, because there would be 
too much in one place and we would get nothing 
for it, as was the case in some instances this 
year. 

Thursday's Session. 

The chair announced the following committee 
of representatives of Southern California to con- 
sider the matter of the California Fruit Union : 

Dr. 0. H. Congar of Pasadena; Abott Kinney, 
San Gabriel; James Bettner, Riverside; C. E. 
White, Pomona; T. A. Garey, Los Angeles. 

The chairman announce the topic for the 
morning: "The best varieties of the different 
kinds of fruits to meet the wants of consumers 
in the dififerent seasons. " 

THE LEMON. 

Mr. A. P. Chapman, of San Gabriel, read the 
following paper on the lemon : 

In considering this subject we must begin 
with the defects of the cultivator who has 
forced it to become known at home and abroad 
as large and pithy, of thick skin and bitter 
rind. 

Any lemon allowed to thoroughly ripen on 
the tree is apt to, and generally does, develop 
the aforesaid characteristics, and produces in 
the cultivator a large hole in the pocket, pithy 
brain and thick skull full of bitter thoughts. 
We will divide our subject into heads: The care 
and cultivation of the tree and the gathering 
and packing of the fruit for market. 

The lemon being very susceptible to frost we 
choose a naturally dry and moist soil, but where 
we can at will irrigate it; for the most im- 
portant thing in plant life is water; without it 



plant food is unavailable. Yet we will not irri- 
gate too much for fear we may wash away part 
of our plant food and make our soil too cold 
and clammy. 

Wemusfralso use manure, for of what bene- 
fit is it to groom a horse and not feed him. And 
we will feed him right well some 25 tons of 
barnyard manure to the acre, and on that in 
the fall of the year four barrels of lime that 
to render our manure available. 

We can plow our trees in the month of No- 
vember, and turn under our summer weeds and 
other manure. We will plow in the spring of 
the year, and turn under our winter weeds, re- 
membering all the time that they are our best 
friends, for they will make our sandy soil rich 
and dark; they make our adobe soil light and 
yellow; they make both soils more susceptible 
to hydroscopic moisture, and retain it. Chem- 
ically, they supply the soil from the air with 
carbon, and from the ground have made latent 
plant food potent. 

The trees should also be sprayed twice a year, 
in June and September with two pounds of potash 
to 100 gallons of water, which solution should 
leave the caldron boiling hot. This not only 
kills all insect life, but keeps your fruit perfectly 
clean. Any man who has to wash his fruit has 
made a failure in raising it. 

The fruit should be gathered green of such 
size that allowing for shrinkage, will pack from 
250 to 350 to the box. A man gathering has 
his sack suspended from across his shoulders, 
plucks the lemon from the tree with his hands. 
If he drops one he is not allowed to pick it up, 
for that lemon is apt to rot. 

He;;caref uUy places them in his sack and, hav- 
ing filled the same, he places them one by one 
in a tray; the trays are to be placed one above 
another in the shade of a tree. They should be 
six inches deep filled four inches deep with 
lemons. 

There they are allowed to remain for one 
week, the weather permitting, before they will 
bear the jar of transporting them to the pack- 
ing house. At the packing house the trays are 
to be placed one above the other about six trays 
high. A layer of old newspapers is placed on 
the topmost trays to keep the lemons therein 
from drying too fast aud getting dusty. At the 
end of another week, if the weather has not 
been damp, they will be ready for packing: be- 
ing yielding and leathery to the touch, they will 
also have commenced to turn yellow. Assort 
them into sizes and pack those of the same size 
in a box by themselves. 

ORANGE GROWING. 

The following essay was read by Thomas A. 
Garey, of Los Angeles: 

In the year 1880, in my work on "Orange 
Culture in California," I wrote as follows: 
"That the culture of the citrus family of fruits 
is destined to become one of the leading indus- 
tries of the great State of California is no longer 
disputed by the intelligent, reflective, 
mind. That it is now, and will continue 
to be one of the principal incentives to immigra- 
tion into this State, is an acknowledged fact, 
which is amply proven by the testimony of all 
that have taken the trouble to inform them- . 
selves on the subject." I see no reason to change 
my views on this subject at the present time, 
but am more than ever convinced that as time 
elapses, and more knowledge is gained by prac- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



39 



tical experience, the industry will be found to 
be more remunerative in the future than it has 
been in the past. I will here remark that in 
this paper I prepare to quote largely from my 
work on "Orange Culture in California," written 
in 1880, and published by Dewey & Co., of San 
Francisco in 1882, changing and altering the 
subject matter where necessary, to conform to 
knowledge acquired in the interim. The com- 
bined efforts of leading and progressive horti- 
culturists will awake men who are now engaged 
in the great movement to organize protective 
business associations, to facilitate, provide for 
and control the markets for our citrus fruits in 
the commercial centers of our country, will, in 
the near future, in my opinion, bring increased 
and highly remunerative returns for the prod- 
uct. 

I am as firm in the belief to-day as I was five 
years ago that orange growing in California is 
yet in its infancy. That orange growing, the 
combination for active, practical work by act- 
ual growers and producers will increase and the 
result of their labors will stimulate the planting 
of large areas to orange and lemon trees; hence, 
the practical suggestions contained in this essay 
may be of value to those planting new orchards. 
It may be a warning and may enable new be- 
ginners in the business to avoid the quicksands 
and sunken rocks so abundant in the paths of 
the orange-grower; may enable him to ford the 
stream at a safe place. The information herein 
contained has cost the writer many years of 
time. If it proves of value to those engaged, or 
who may engage in the business of orange-grow- 
ing, I will be well repaid for my work. Pass- 
ing over the matter of selection of seed, method 
of planting and raising the plants, selection of 
a proper site for an orange nursery, transplant- 
ing to nursery rows, etc., I will first speak of 
the 

Selection of a Proper Site 

For the location of an orange orchard. The 
site of an orchard is the first and most im- 
portant consideration. I believe, all things 
considered, the table or mesa lands near the 
mountains are the best orange lands. (There 
seems to be some exception to this rule. ) The 
flavor of the fruit in the valleys or near the sea 
is good, but the prevailirg fogs and the exuda- 
tions from the black scale united, soon cover 
the limbs, leaves and fruit with a thick coat of 
black fungus mold, rendering it unfit for mar- 
ket and substantially unmerchantable. 

Trees that are grown in nursery or low lands 
that are covered with this mold, when trans- 
planted to more favorable localities, soon be- 
come clean and bright, proving conclusively 
that location has much to do with clean or 
smutty trees, and consequently clean, bright, 
merchantable or smutty, black, comparatively 
unmerchantable fruit. 

Irrigation. 

As the years roll by I am more than ever 
fully convinced it is the greatest folly to under- 
take to grow oranges successfully without irri- 
gation. If the location is first-class and the soil 
deep and rich, and the cultivation isthorough and 
complete, the trees will grow and thrive until 
fruit appears without irrigation. If UDn-irrigation 
is persisted in aftsr fruiting shall have fully 
commenced, the fruit will be dwarfed and un- 
savory. At all events, an ample store of water 



for use in emergencies is a safe and wise pro- 
vision; it is my candid opinion the full measure 
of success can never be attained without it. If 
you succeed by thorough tillage without water 
you will deserve to be envied, but ample irri- 
gating facilities will be safe precautions and 
will operate as an insurance policy against 
drought. 

The method of applying water to orange 
trees is somewhat varied. In 1880 and 1881 82, 
I was intensely interested in the system of un- 
derground irrigation and believed it would be 
a great labor saving, water saving and success- 
ful method, especially in districts where water 
was scarce. It has not, however, met my ex- 
pectations, and the more primitive methods 
still almost universally prevail. Though I be- 
lieve irrigation absolutely necessary, I know 
it is a great damage in many instances where an 
excess of water is put upon the ground. I know 
of but one disease the citrus family are subject 
to in this county; it is what is known as the 
gum disease. Excessive irrigation and slovenly 
cultivation are admitted to be the source of this 
disease. Orchards properly irrigated and cul- 
tivated are not affected with gum disease, hence 
you who are blessed with an abundance of 
water, be careful and use it judiciously and in- 
telligently. Orchards onhigh well-underdrained 
land, that receive irrigation only when abso- 
lutely necessary and that are carefully culti- 
vated after each irrigation, and before the 
ground shall have time to bake and crack are 
always found free from this disease. The term 
"gum disease" is after all undoubtedly a mis- 
nomer; strictly speaking it is not a disease, it is 
simply the result of improper treatment of the 
trees. To cure this so called disease, remove 
the tree and plant a sound tree in its place. 

Soil. 

The quality of the soil for an orange orchard 
should be a deep, rich, sandy or gravelly loam 
with an admixture of clay, and a gravelly sub- 
soil free from hardpan — at all events, the hard- 
pan should not be less than six feet from the 
surface, but a soil with no hardpan is prefer- 
able. Where hardpan is near the surface the 
trees do well for a few years, but when the 
roots reach this hard, impervious substratum 
the tree at once begins to fail, the leaves turn 
yellow, the ends of the branches begin to die 
back, the orchard is ruined. 

Selection and Purchase of Trees. 

The selection and purchase of trees for an 
orange orchard, is a prime factor in the future 
success of the venture. The fully established 
and generally well known reputation and reli- 
ability of a nursery, are landmarks in the 
journey for the selection of trees that should 
not be overlooked. 

The thrifty coadition of the trees is the first 
item in which caution must be exercised. If 
the trees are healthy, they will be vigorous, 
and the foliage will be of a dark green color. 
A tree suffering from bad treatment, always de- 
clares the fact by its general appearance. Trees 
for an orchard should be two to three years 
from the bud or graft (one year is preferable to 
five or six) with clean smooth stem and evenly 
balanced head. Old dwarfed culls and scrubby 
trees are dear at any price. Vigorous sy met- 
rical trees of proper age should be selected at 
any cost; it will pay to pay good prices for 



40 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



good trees. Nurserymen who consider the 
wants of their customers, cannot compete with 
careless, irresponsible importers in the business. 
Mr. Wiley of Pomona, says there is not a re- 
liable nurseryman in the State of California, 
but I think he is mistaken. 

Plan of an Orchard. 

Our orange orchard is planted not only for 
ourselves, but for our posterity for many gen- 
erations, hence it behooves us to use judgment 
in planning and laying out so great and worthy 
an enterprise. He who successfuly plants an 
orchard of citrus trees leaves a grand herit- 
age to his heirs; he is a benefactor to his race. 
Do not plant too close; give your trees plenty 
of room. My experience leads me to recom- 
mend planting budded or grafted orange trees 
twenty-four feet apart each way; seedlings 
thirty by thirty feet apart; lemons, budded va- 
rieties, twenty by twenty feet apart; limes the 
same. I consider these distances ample 
for the full development of the trees. 
Plant the trees in straight lines. It pays 
well to take time to stake an orchard so 
the rows will be straight. If crooked and ir- 
regular, with here and there a tree out of line, 
it will be extremely disagreeable to the artistic 
eye, besides being more difficult to cultivate. 

Transplanting to Orchard. 

Transplanting to orchard is generally con- 
sidered simple and easy, and with few excep- 
tions it is done in too much of a hurry. The 
question is not as it should be, How shall I pro- 
ceed to plant my trees in the best manner to 
insure aquick and permanent growth, but, How 
can I plant my trees in the least possible tirrte, 
and with the least expense. He who follows 
out this idea has at least ample time in which 
to repent at his leisure, for his haste in throwing 
his trees in a slovenly careless manner into the 
soil. It is important to know what month is 
best in which to transplant the trees, as to un- 
derstand any other point in the business. I have 
planted to nursery rows and to orchards many 
hundreds of thousands of orange trees, having 
planted in every month of the year. I think I 
have perhaps had more practical experience in 
this matter than any other person in this State 
at least. If extreme care and caution be used, 
even to the minutise, they can be transplanted 
at any time with some degree of success. I 
should have remarked that the orange tree is 
one of the hardiest trees known: they will 
survive very harsh and unhorticulturallike 
treatment, they will withstand drought and 
excess of water, they will live and make 
a stunted growth with slovenly cultivation, 
when what are called our hardy trees, under like 
treatment, would die. At the same time the 
whole order of the genus citrus responds most 
gratefully to proper treatment. I have found 
<hat May is the best month in which to trans- 
plant; there is no danger of frost, the windy sea- 
son is past, the ground is warm and the weather 
is mild, being neither too hot nor too cold. 
There is usually more cloudy weather in this 
month in Southern California than in any other, 
not excepting even the rainy season. Febru- 
ary is my next choice. When trees are to be 
moved long distances, for instance from the 
nurseries of Southern California to the Northern 
counties of the State, I prefer the month of 
February, all things considered, in which to 



move them. Occasional hbt spells occuir in May 
in the Northern counties, and for this reason, 
and this alone, February is preferable. June is 
better than March, and July is better than 
December or January. I have had less success 
in the fall than at any other time. I would 
rather plant in August than in Octobor or No- 
vember. 

The holes for the trees should be dug from 
two and a half to three feet in diameter and the 
same in depth. Throw the surface soil to one 
side and the subsoil to the other, that the sur- 
face soil may be put in the bottom of the hole, 
where the trees shall be planted, and the sub- 
soil above. Two methods of digging the trees 
are generally practiced. First, to bag the roots 
and second, to puddle the roots or cover with 
grout after digging. The former method is the 
safest, but the latter, when well and properly 
done is the better. Great care must be taken 
in handling orange trees; when planting, the 
roots must not be exposed to the sun or wind; 
the roots must not at any time from digging to 
planting be allowed to get dry. The orange 
tree being an evergreen, the fibrous or feeding 
roots dry up surprisingly quick, and when once 
dry, nothing can resuscitate them to their nor- 
mal condition. When planting bagged trees do 
not remove the bagging, but plant it with the 
tree; it soon rots and does no harm. I recom- 
mend cutting the limbs back severely at this 
time, more than at any time before or after. 
The condition of soil at the time of removing 
the trees from nursery rows is very important.. 
It should be in good order, thoroughly damp, 
in a good condition suited to the rapid growth 
of the tree. An orange tree seldom lives if re- 
moved from the nursery when the ground is 
very dry. Probably more trees are lost from 
this cause than from any other, though it may 
not be generally known. In concluding this 
part of this subject, a few words in reference to 
the tap root may be of interest. It is my 
opinion a tap root cut from 12 to 16 inches be- 
Iqw the surface of the ground, is as good as if 
cut at three feet or removed entire. 

I know that when the tap root is cut at the 
former depth, from two to five tap roots gener- 
ally form instead of the one oiiginal root, and 
strike out at different angles, thereby acting as 
substantial braces to the trees and penetrating 
the earth to a great depth. But save all the 
lateral and fibrous roots as nearly intact as pos- 
sible, and the loss of most of the tap root will 
do no injury. 

Cultivation. 

It is of great importance to give close atten- 
tion to the matter of cultivation; the soil must 
be kept mellow and clean at all times. The 
method of cultivation should be such as to 
leave the surface of the soil as level as possible, 
except in the fall at the approach of the rainy 
season, when the ground should be plowed 
with a turning plow, turning the soil to the 
trees; leaving the trees on a slight elevation, 
and causing the winter rains to be drawn 
from the trees to the dead furrow in the center 
of the spaces. The ground is comparatively 
cold in winter, and it is detrimental to the 
growth and health of the tree to allow water to 
stand near the trees to injure the roots. 

The orange tree will not flourish in this cli- 
mate when the roots stand in soil filled with 
water. Some implement that will pulverize the= 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



41 



soil thoroughly and destroy the weeds 
should be used. Cultivate close to, and 
around the trunks of the trees, as well as 
between the rows. Commence early in the 
spring and keep the cultivator running all 
summer; in the fall, as already stated, finish 
with a turning plow, being careful to turn a 
shallow furrow near the trunks of the trees, in- 
creasing the depth as you approach the center 
of the spaces. Deep plowing destroys the fi- 
brous fruit-producing roots of orange trees, to 
the great injury of the tree and the crop. In 
the spring use a turning plow again, turning 
the soil from the tree, leaving the soil level. 
There is a difierence of opinion among horticul- 
turists as to the depth to which an orange or- 
chard should be plowed; some favor shallow 
plowing, some deep plowing. I approve of, aiid 
advise, shallow plowing, not to exceed two or 
three inches in depth, near and adjoining the 
trunk of the tree, and within a radius of 
four feet from it, increasing the depth gradu- 
ally from this point to the center of the spaces, 
the greatest depth not to exceed six inches. 
The general cultivation of the season should 
not exceed four inches. 

Crops in Orchard. 

Do not under any circumstances, plant any 
kind of crops in your orange orchard. If you 
propose to plant ten acres in orchard, and can- 
not make a living until the orchard commences 
to return an income, then plant five acres to 
orchard, and plant annual crops on the other 
five acres. This is sutBcient on this point: look 
around among your neighbors orchards and 
note the condition of the orchards used an- 
nually for various crops, and contrast their ap- 
pearance and condition with the orchards used 
and devoted entirely to the trees, and you will 
be convinced that planting any kind of a crop 
either cereal or vegetable, is a great injury to 
the orchard. 

Fertilizing. 

The arable land of California is generally ex- 
ceedingly rich and fertile. Two crops of or- 
dinary products are often taken off annually for 
a long series of years, without fertilizing and 
without any apparent dimunition of yield. 
Perhaps no country in the world responds more 
promptly and faithfully to the demands of the 
husbandman without fertilizing than the arable 
lands of California. Large orchards are pro- 
ducing abundantly without having received any 
artificial fertilizers. However, I believe a gen- 
erous coat of well composted manure annually, 
will be a paying investment. Manure should 
never be mixed with soil when filling up the 
excavation*at the time of setting the tree. I 
have tried this method to my regret; it increases 
the heat to an unnatural degree, which requires 
an unusual quantity of water to modify, and 
damages the tree very much; spreading the 
manure evenly on the surface of the ground 
around the tree, to a distance equal to the 
diameter of the top, is the proper method of ap- 
plying it. The manure should be at once mixed 
with the soil by cultivation. The best time to 
apply the manure is in the fall, at the com- 
mencement of the rainy season; then the rains 
and subsequent irrigations carry the liquid 
manure down to and among the roots of the 
trees, where it is appropriated for the growth of 
the trees. 



Pruning an Orcliard. 

Now we have arrived at one of the most im- 
portant branches of the subject of orange- grow- 
ing. At the last quarterly session of the Los 
Angeles County Pomological Society, held at 
the town of Pomona, it was warmly argued by 
the president of the Pomona local pomological 
society that pruning deciduous fruit trees was 
entirely unnecessary, and a great horticultural 
mistake. The same argument used in regard 
to deciduous trees is applicable to citrus fruit 
culture, on general principles. I think the 
non-pruning theory, if adopted and practiced, 
would soon ruin all our orchards and the repu- 
tation of our fruit, both temperate climate and 
semi-tropic. There is, however, much diver- 
sity of opinion prevailing in this very impor- 
tant branch of the science of horticulture, not 
as to the fact as put by some that pruning is a 
necessary evil and unavoidable, but in regard 
to the particular method to be used. Various 
methods are pursued, from that of allowing the 
trees to branch at the ground and letting them 
severely alone (which might very consistently 
be called the Willey system), to that of prun- 
ing them up and commencing to form the top 
or crown at an unusual and undesirable hight. 
The extremes of very little if any pruning, to a 
continuous cutting and hacking, prevails to a 
great degree. Perhaps so wide a difference of 
opinion does not exist among our fruit growers 
on any other branch of fruit culture. Novem- 
ber, December or January is the proper season 
for general pruning. Orange trees grow less 
during these months than at any other time. 
January is immediately prior to the season of 
blooming. The annual pruning should be done 
before the fruit forms. At all seasons of the 
year all superfluous sprouts on the trunk and 
stray branches that threaten to throw the tree 
out of balance should be removed without de- 
lay. A sharp knife should be used, and all 
cuts made as smooth as possible. All cuts 
made with a saw should be pared down smooth 
with a sharp knife. When large limbs are re- 
moved, the cut portion ought to be painted 
with gum shellac in proper solution to spread 
easily. 

There are involved in pruning several princi- 
ples, among which are the following : First, 
the removal of the branches from the trunk of 
the tree to admit of cultivation close to the 
tree with a horse and cultivator. Second, the 
removal of all limbs that cross or rub each other 
or that grow too close together diverging from 
one point. Third, thinning out the center of 
the top of the tree, cutting out all new produc- 
ing branches to admit an ample supply of air 
and light. On the first proposition a wide 
difference of opinion prevails. The advocates 
of low pruning argue in favor of this method, 
because it shades the trunk of the tree from the 
direct rays of the sun, and that it shades the 
ground preventing evaporation and hence less 
irrigation. The advocates of high pruning are 
no less enthusiastic in defense of their theory. 
They argue it admits of better and more 
thorough cultivation close to the trunk of the 
tree as well as in the spaces between the trees, 
and at less expense. They say the entire sur- 
face of the soil should be stirred with the culti- 
vator, not only to destroy weeds, but to pul- 
verize the soil for the retention of moisture, and 
that the direct rays of the sun should fall on 
the whole area of the ground in the orchard. I 



42 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



think the soil requires the warmth of the sun, 
as well as cultivation, that the trees may receive 
the full benefit of the moisture in the ground 
and that the fruit may be fully developed; 
nearly all kinds of plants, deprived of the un- 
obscured light of the sun, make a pale, sickly 
and unnatural growth. Plenty of sunwhine 
with an ample supply of moisture, proper and 
scientific pruning, and thorough cultivation, are 
the prime requisites, to promote a quick-, 
healthy and vigorous growth, and to cause us 
to realize the full fruition of our hopes in the 
size, quality and general excellence of the 
product. I believe in high pruning, and recom- 
mend it. 

Before the trees are transplanted to orchard, 
and while growing in the nursery, they should 
be allowed plenty of limbs, which make them 
develop a stocky trunk. Trees trained to long, 
slim, branchless switches in nursery usually 
have poor straggling roots. After planting to 
orchard, raise them gradually by removing a 
few of the lower limbs annually until the 
requisite hight is attained. 

I do not pretend to dictate or lay down an 
infallible rule as to the best of the different 
methods of pruning, but simply give my prefer- 
ences from a practical standpoint, and their ad- 
vantages as I see them, leaving the intelligent 
pomologist to decide for himself. 

Destructive Insects and Remedies. 

Now, after all the information and instruc- 
tions in the preceding part of this paper is 
fully digested and assimilated, and the pomol- 
ogist begins to feel he has a sure foundation 
upon which to build a business, from which he 
fondly hopes to derive an income to compen- 
sate him for time, money and labor invested, 
he is suddenly confronted by an enemy not 
laid down in the program. I refer to injurious 
scale. That you may know the present highly 
magnified and overdrawn scale bug scare is at 
present not new to me, at least, I will repeat 
what I wrote in my book on "Orange Culture," 
heretofore referred to in 1880, and published in 
1882. I then said, "A variety of scale bug 
that is new to us has made its appearance 
within a few years in some of our orchards, and 
known as the 'red scale bug.' The appearance 
of this insect is the advent of a real enemy to 
successful orange-growing. As soon as it is 
known it has obtained a foothold in an or- 
chard, no time should be lost in destroying it 
thoroughly and effectually. No half way meas- 
ures will do, heroic and untiring energy must 
be used to destroy it and prevent its spread- 
ing over your own and adjacent orchards. 
The white scale, a formidable enemy to the 
orange tree, is somewhat prevalent at present. 
It appears already to have made considerable 
progress in our country. A year or two ago it 
was known only in two or three orchards, but 
it is now found in several places miles apart. 
Colonies and neighborhoods cannot be too 
cautious in using every possible means to pre- 
vent its introduction. I do not consider its 
presence fatal to the business, but i is an ex- 
pensive and damaging evil that must be eradi- 
cated from our country." These warnings are 
as proper to-day as when written. I also 
said at that time, "I have sometimes 
thought it would be commendable and proper 
if the directors of our horticultural societies 
would bring this subject to the attention of our 



Legislators. There might, and ought to be, 
some legislation providing for the compulsory 
eradication of this parasite from the orchards 
of California." 

There will always be some easy-going owners 
of orchards who will be slow and slovenly in 
their treatment of this scourge; this will, at 
least, have a tendency to retain it among us 
for a considerable time. I closed my chapter 
on this subject with these words: "Watch 
your trees closely and diligently and remove 
every appearance of evil from your orchards — 
which evil is the advent of the red and the 
white scale-bugs." I refer the further consid- 
eration of this subject to Dr. S. F. Chapin, 
Chief State Insect Inspector, and to our worthy 
County Scale Bug Commissioners, Messrs. Dob- 
bins, Rice and McKinley; and I ask them if I 
did not write in a prophetic manner in 1880, 
and cast a horoscope that is now being realized 
and understood in our S ate. In regard to 
remedies for the extermination of the red and 
white scale, I leave the matter with the honor- 
able gentlemen mentioned above. In conclu- 
sion I will speak of the 

Best Varieties to Plant. 

Five years ago I said I would plant, if 
planting 1100 trees, in the following propor- 
tions: Pour hundred Mediterranean Sweet; 
400 Washington Navel; 150 Malta Blood, and 
150 thin-skinned St. Michael. I have no rea- 
son to alter or change the above proportions to 
any great degree at present. I would not 
plant seedlings trees under any circumstances 
whatever. I would plant budded lemons only 
of the best, well tried varieties. 

THE FIG. 

The following essay was prepared' by Dr. 
Gustav Eisen, of Fresno, Cal. : 

The growing and curing of Smyrna figs, or 
rather of so called Smyrna figs has now for 
years been a desideratum for California, but so 
far very little has been done, and very 
few efforts made which have resulted success- 
fully. If this want of success has been the re- 
sult of poor varieties or of insufficient knowl- 
edge of the proper conditions of a successful cul- 
ture, I leave to you to decide. We may not be 
far out of the way if we suspect both. 

The importance of successful fig culture can 
hardly be overestimated for our State. In the 
Mediterranean countries, where the climate is 
very similar to our own, the fig crop is of the 
very greatest eccnomical imoortance. Indeed in 
Asia Minor and Arabia, the failure of this crop 
is dreaded even more than the failure of the 
cereals, as not only is the country at such times 
deprived of its chief article of expojf, but the 
failure of the fig crop means starvation for both 
man and beast. Such failures are, however, 
exceedingly rare. The figs generally known as 
"Smyrna figs" do not all come from Smyrna, in 
Asia Minor. But this port is the one from 
which the largest portion of the fine figs are ex- 
ported. While these figs are grown everywhere 
in Asia Minor, the very choicest are restricted 
to certain districts within easy reach of the 
port of Smyrna. It is difficult to believe that 
there should be so few localities adapted to the 
production of the better brands of figs, and it is 
far more rational to think that through the 
ignorance and habits of the people the secrets 
of the successful culture of the finest figs have 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS 



43 



been contined to certain localities, and that no 
efforts have been made to distribute the proper 
knowledge to other districts. No doubt jeal- 
ously has been a powerful agency in confining 
the knowledge of the culture and curing of the 
finest figs to certan districts. To illustrate 
this, I will relate an incident that hap- 
pened to me in Central America. The chief 
industry in that part of the country of which I 
now speak, is the making of hats from the fibers 
of a palm leaf. In one place there are two vil- 
lages situated within three miles of each other, 
and the inhabitants of both do nothing else than 
manufacture hats. The palm leaves are not 
grown in the vicinity in sufficient quantity, 
though there is no reason why they could not 
be grown there. A few thrifty trees bear wit- 
ness of this. The people of both villages go to 
Salama, 100 miles away, to get the leaves. The 
idea never struck them that the leaves could be 
grown at their very doors. Now in one village, 
Monjon, they manufacture very superior hats, 
which in the market bring 50 to 60 cents each. 
Upon arriving at the next village, Tepic, I found 
the men having jnst returned from a trip to the 
capital, and that they had been obliged to dis- 
pose of their hats at six cents apiece. Struck 
by the enormous discrepancy in price, I asked 
the natives why their neighbors got so much 
more for their hats, when I was told that the 
Monjon hats were very much better and that the 
Tepic people did not know how to make as good 
hnts. In my simplicity I asked the men : "You 
say you have the same leaves ; now why don't 
you learn to make as good hats ?" The answer 
was: "Sir, we do not know how, and they do 
not want to tell us." 

The people in these semi-civilized countries 
have evidently no conception of the way know- 
ledge is distributed and exchanged in countries 
like our own, where, with the aid of the press 
and conventions, we have accomplished in a few 
years what has taken centuries to achieve for 
them. 

Whence Come the Imported Pigs. 

But to return to Smyrna. The very best figs 
from there come to us from the valleys of the 
rivers Meander and Cayster, and from the 
localities known as Aidin, Nasli, Erbeyli, Sul- 
tanhissar, Demirdjik, Ademish and Locoum. 
But outside of these places in the immediate 
vicinity of the export harbor — a location which 
undoubtedly is highly favorable in a country, 
where, until lately, the crop had to be carried 
to the port on the backs of camels in sacks of 
hair — some other localities in Asia export figs 
of considerable • merit. Such places are 
Aleppo, Mytilene, Tyre, Damascus, etc. 

In Egypt no tigs seem to be produced for ex- 
port, and naturally so from the condition and 
character of its soil, the latter being principally 
bottom land, which is always more or less un- 
suitable to the production of a perfect tig. In 
Greece, especially in the Grecian archipelago, 
we meet with fine plantations of figs, with 
partly the same, partly different varieties from 
those grown in Asia Minor: such plantations 
as those of Zante and Chios and Kalamata, but 
the tigs from here are not equal in quality to 
those from Smyrna; still their export from 
the three places amounts to 10,000 tons a year. 
The coast of the Adriatic produces some very 
choice tigs, the tinest coming from Catanea and 
from Sicily; but, in fact, the whole of Italy is 



largely dependent upon its fig crop, and few, 
if any, localities are found there in which the 
tig tree is not grown. In Tuscany many figs 
are raised and the variety here called Dottati is 
considered superior for drying, though we be- 
lieve they are principally destined for home 
consumption, and not for export. The .south 
coast of the Mediterranean produces also the 
very choicest figs. In Algiers the fig culture 
is not inconsiderable, and in Morocco some of 
the very finest varieties are grown: according 
to some reports, even superior to, or at least 
equal to, those of Smyrna. But we have no 
statistics of any being exported from there. 
The varieties grown there are of many colors : 
black, white, yellow and green, the latter being 
considered the finest and the most profitable. 

In Spain and Portugal we find fig culture 
one of the prominent industries. In Sevilla 
and Malaga many figs are grown and many are 
exported. Malaga especially excels in fresh 
tible figs and it is from this port that we get 
the delicious St. Pedro and the Breba figs. 

The southern part of Portugal, especially the 
province of Algarve, was once the chief sup- 
plier of the dried figs consumed by Northern 
Europe. The port of Pharo was once as 
famous for its export of figs as is now Smyrna, 
but the fig trade from these ports has of 
late years declined considerably. The export 
port of Portugal is to-day chiefly Villa Nova 
de Portimao, though, according to Dr. 
Bleasdale, even from Lisbon no inconsiderable 
quantities are exported. The province of Al- 
garve is, as far as I can judge from descriptions 
and from my principal informant. Dr. Bleas- 
dale, very similar to Los Angeles county. The 
low plains here and there traversed by low hills, 
slope up towards the higher mountains inland, 
presenting sandy slopes, cooled by the sea 
breezes, but untouched by the fog of the im- 
mediate coast. The southern part of France is 
also adapted to fig culture, but the varieties 
grown here are mostly different from those 
of the more southern States, I have just men- 
tioned, and originated in, and more adapted to 
the country and climate in which they are 
grown. The number of varieties originated in 
France is simply astonishing; they can be 
counted by the 100 or more. As far north as 
Paris fig culture is practiced in the open ground, 
but, of course, under the greatest difficulties, 
caused by the inclemency of the weather and 
the shortness of the summer. But, notwith- 
standing this, says Du Breuil, the eminent 
French authority, we have through the origina- 
tion of ne"w varieties succeeded in producing 
figs not inferior to those of the southern and 
more favored countries. This, of course, only re- 
fers to table tigs: not to those used for dry- 
ing. In the south of France, especially around 
Marseilles, the drying and curing of tigs has 
reached considerable importance, but the figs 
produced are in size and flavor decidedly in- 
ferior to the Aidin figs. 

Even north of Paris fig trees are occasionally 
grown, but naturally more as a curiosity than 
for any commercial value. Even in south of 
England figs are grown on trellis and on walls 
in favorable localities. 

In leaving the eastern part of the world and 
turning to our own, we find that figs are 
grown in many of the southern States, or rather 
everywhere where the nature of the climate 
allows. The experience there has been of very 



44 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



much the same nature as our own in California. 
The fig tree grows well enough, but the varie- 
ties have been poor, in many instances worth- 
less. In Mexico and Central America many figs 
are grown, both black and white of good qual- 
ity, and especially in Lower California are some 
plantations noted for their excellence. From a 
gentleman who has been living in La Paz, I 
learn that excellent white figs are grown there, 
called Brebas, and that they, what seemed 
to me incredible, are the second crop of 
a variety the first crop of which is 
blue or black. These figs are said to be very 
delicious and highly valued. In the Central 
American highlands is grown a probably native 
variety of small, black fig, which, indeed, is 
very fine as fresh or candied table figs, but for 
drying of no value, or rather, of no value as an 
export article in competition with white figs. 
In those countries I have also seen enormously 
large, wild fig trees, some 15 to 20 feet in di- 
ameter at the root, and bearing very large, 
luscious white figs, covered with drops of juice, 
like white pearls, and looking exceedingly in- 
viting and appetizing, but upon tasting them I 
found that no more bitter and nauseous fruit 
was ever tasted by man. 

In California we have, as far as I knew, no 
native fig, the Mission or California being, if 
not originated from seed here, probably identi- 
cal with some of the many black varieties in 
Spain. 

Soil and Climate. 
f jThe statistics of soil, climate and other con- 
ditions necessary for a successful fig culture are 
so very meager and so very scattered, that the 
task of bringing them together is not a very 
thankful one, and the material thus collected is 
by no means sufficient in any way to satisfy us. 

In considering these climatic conditions and 
soils, it is important to make a distinction be- 
tween the cultivation of the fig for table use and 
for drying. The conditions for the proper cul- 
ture of table figs to be eaten fresh are far less 
in number, and far less exacting than those for 
the production of a perfect and superior dried 
fig, destined to rival the imported article. I 
believe there is hardly any place in the south- 
ern States of this continent, which would not 
produce a fair or good table fig, provided the 
right variety suited to the locality is selected; 
but in regard to drying figs we have to look 
closer to conditions of climate and soil. 

What strikes us then at the offset is the 
great similarity of the whole interior of Cali- 
fornia with the most favored localities of the 
vicinity of Smyrna. The seasons are there di- 
vided into two, just as here; one dry and one 
wet. The winter rain commences in Novem- 
ber and lasts until May. From May until Oc- 
tober are the dry months, and with "few excep- 
tions.no rains fall during the summer months, 
thus promoting the ripening of the tig and the 
drying of the same. Occasionally, however, 
heavy rains injure the ripening figs, cause them 
to crack and sour, and toughen the skin, and 
causing the otherwise white color to turn a 
more or less dark brown. Such seasons are by 
no means unknown in even the best districts in 
Asia Minor, and are the causes of the bad 
years. Thus we see that the summer rains, 
which here in California are so very unwelcome 
to almost all of our crops, are similarly injuri- 
ous in the fig districts of Asia Minor. In the 
most favored spots of the Smyrna districts the 



summer heat seldom exceeds 90° and 100° Fahr. 
in the shade and 130° to 140° Fahr. in the sun, 
and the freezing in winter is seldom more than 
half a dozen degrees. A heavier frost, how- 
ever, is not considered injurious, or in any way 
influencing the quality of the fig crop. 

The soil in Smyrna and vicinity is very vari- 
able. It contains a fair percentage of lime and 
potash, but is otherwise of various qualities. 
The most luxuriant growth is obtained in a 
deep rich soil, but the best figs are grown on a 
soil which is made loose and porous by a fair 
admixture of sand. A sandy loam is thus the 
best, probably because the drainage is here the 
most perfect. Such soils produce large .figs, of 
a white, thin skin, of high flavor and great 
sweetness. 

In aspect the Meander valley resembles our 
lowest foothills — small valleys, separated by low 
ridges, during the dry season, as uninviting as 
the foothills of the Sierra Nevada or the Sierra 
Madre. Some of the fig orchards are planted 
on hill land and some in the valleys, neither 
locality having any decided advantage over the 
O'her. The valleys and the plains generally 
give thinnest skinned fruit, the skins of the 
mountain figs being considered thicker. But in 
rainy or foggy weather the mountains or hills 
dry up the fastest: in this respect showing a de- 
cided advantage over the low, perhaps swampy 
plains. 

In California we will probably find many lo- 
calities likely to produce the finest figs. Our 
experience is that the principal necessity is a 
well-drained soil. The nature of the soil is less 
important, provided that it is sufficiently sandy 
to be loose and porous. Almost any soil that 
we have can therefore be used for figs destined 
for drying, except one, and that is the heavy 
black adobe so common in many of our lower 
valleys. I cannot sufficiently caution against 
the planting of fig orchards in such soil; it is 
the one of all which is by nature not destined 
for the fig. As to which is the best soil for the 
fig, only experience can tell. A sandy, reddish 
or light soil is the one preferred in Smyrna; a 
white clayey soil is the best for the fig tree at 
Sidon. In Morocco and Tangier, where the 
choicest varieties are grown, a light loam is con- 
sidered superior; indeed, there the poorest soil 
is preferred, but instead manure is used to in- 
crease the size of the fruit, as well as the yield. 

If we then recapitulate, we find that the fol- 
lowing conditions are advantageous to fig 
culture : 

1. Abundance of moisture in the soil before 
the figs begin to ripen. 

2. Good and perfect drainage at any time. 

3. The gradual drying of the soil when the 
fruit is ripening. 

4. Sufficient heat to insure sweetness in the 

5. Absence of any frost lower than 18° Fahr,, 
though the figs can stand a temperature as low 
as 12° Fahr., if they are tolerably dormant. 

6. Absence of heavy rains during the matur- 
ing of the fruit. 

Again the following conditions are injurious 
to fig trees, if the object is to procure superior 
fruit: 

1 . A wet soil, with stagnant water during 
the fruiting season. 

2. Cesspools, sewers and ditches in so close 
proximity to the trees that they can send roots 
to them. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



45 



3. Heavy rains on the fruit, when it is rip- 
ening. Some of the finest varieties are then 
apt to crack and sour. 

4. Heavy rains and dews upon the fruit ex- 
posed for drying. 

5. And last, a heavy undrainable black adobe 
soil, impervious to sun and air. 

As to the favorable conditions I believe 
they are all within our reach in this State; in- 
deed, few are the localities which can not 
command them. 

Planting and Cultivation. 

The horticulturists of California can, I be- 
lieve, have but little to learn from the mode of 
planting and cultivating in countries so back- 
ward in these respects, as South of Europe.and 
Asia Minor. But the very fact that in this 
very home of the finest figs certain operations 
are adopted which to us may seem highly ludi- 
crous, or even injurious, should set us to think 
that we do not know it all, and at least set us 
to inquire as to the reasons for these peculiar 
practices. 

First, then, in the Aidin district the fig trees 
are always set two in the same hole. What 
would we think if we saw peaches and apples 
planted two and two, immediately joining? 
After the ground has been sufficiently plowed 
and dug, holes are made in varying distances 
of 25 to 30 feet, according to quality of soil, the 
poorer soil requiring the lesser distance. In 
these holes the fig trees are plowed in the month 
of March one foot apart, and then joined at the 
top, and here made to cross each other like the 
letter X, a few inches above the ground. At 
the junction of the trees they are tied to each 
other and to a stake, so as to keep steady. 
From Dr. Stillman, who has visited Smyrna, I 
learned that both trees are allowed to grow and 
develop into a tree, and the stems are wound 
one around the other, like a trailing vine round 
a pole. The object of this peculiar custom is 
difficult to explain, as we know of nothing 
analogous in our horticulture. I have, however, 
thought the object sought is as much as possi- 
ble to prevent self-fertilization, and to increase 
hybridization by the pollen of another tree. 
It may also be that the cuttings so planted are 
taken from the parent trees at different times 
of the year. This would have a tendency to 
produce the different crops of figs at the same 
time. As the first crop has more male flowers 
than the latter crops, it would, for the 
proper fertilization of the figs, be a great 
advantage to have them both appear in 
close proximity at one and the same time. 
The first years the figs are irrigated by some 
means or other, and first, when fully established, 
are they considered able to reach the under- 
ground moister strata. The land is plowed 
several times a year and highly manured. 
The latter is the more necessary, as small 
crops, such as beans and corn, are grown 
between the trees for several years, 
or until the trees reach sufficient size to shade 
the ground. In some orchards, however, the 
trees are set much furtlier apart, or 66 feet 
every way, and the intervening space is set in 
olive trees or peaches. In Catania, in Sicily, 
the figs are set 26 feet apart, without other 
trees between, and the soil is plowed or dug 
twice a year. Without this annual plowing 
the figs are said to become small and inferior. 
In Nice, in France, the figs are set 19^ feet or 6 
meters apart. 



The different varieties of figs attain their full 
bearing capacity at different ages. But in 
Smyrna a fig tree is considered to be in good 
bearing at five years after planting, or at least 
at that age they are considered to bear suffi- 
ciently to pay well, the yield then being 150 
pounds to the tree. From that time on the 
tree is considered to increase in productiveness 
for 20 to 30 years. 

In regard to California, the distance between 
the fig trees should vary with the variety. For 
heavy growing varieties, such as the Adriatic 
and the San Pedro, I would think 25 feet would 
suffice; at least, that is the distance I have 
adopted for my own trees. 

lu setting out fig trees it is necessary not to 
expose the roots to the drying winds or to sun- 
shine. A few moments of each is sufficient to 
injure the roots in such way that they will re- 
quire several months to recuperate. 

The irrigation of the fig is a question of great- 
est importance. I have already shown that 
trees on wet or swampy soil produce inferior 
fruit, not fit for drying. In localities where ir- 
rigation is necessary, the supply of water must 
not be such that the soil is in any way made 
swampy, or supplied with so much water that 
it cannot be sufficiently drained in the fall. To 
give any general rule is quite impossible. There 
is hardly two localities in our State exactly 
similar in regard to the dryness of the soil, and 
accordingly each locality should be supplied 
with water differently, if at all. If we again, 
regardless of locality, should consider only the 
fig tree proper and its growth, I would say that 
the tree should have just moisture enough to be 
kept at a healthy growth, and as such I con- 
sider one that would produce branches of 
from one and a half to two and a half feet 
each season, and rather less than more. When 
long sappy roots are produced it is always an 
indication that there is too much water in the 
soil. Such wood will produce watery figs, de- 
ficient in flavor and sweetness, and flat and in- 
sipid to the taste. Such figs are neither fit for 
table nor for drying. It is especially during 
the drying season the supply of water should be 
limited, and I am satisfied that if the trees have 
had all the water necessary during the spring 
and early summer months, they will be much 
the better off, by having no artificial irrigation 
after the first of the month of August. But 
this refers only to older bearing trees. Lately 
planted trees may require water much later, in 
localities where irrigation is necessary. Such 
well matured wood is not likely to be injured 
by frost, even in our most severe winters. 

Of no less importance to a successful fig cul- 
ture is the mode of pruning. Unlike most 
fruit trees, fig trees should be but sparingly 
pruned. Any wholesale topping and heading 
back is decidedly injurious, and fig trees treated 
thus will produce inferior fruit the following 
season. I can not learn that any such heading 
back is practiced in Smyrna or elsewhere where 
fine figs are grown, and it certainly must be con- 
sidered as highly favorable to the cultivator 
that such pruning is not necessary. 

In Smyrna the trees are first raised to the 
hight of five or six feet, then cut square off 
and allowed to branch out. For California I 
advocate to branch the fig trees very low. My 
plan is to sucker and pull off the sprouts 
the first year, but afterwards allow the 
tree to branch freely low down from the main 



46 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



stem above ground, only keeping the real root- 
suckers away. In this way a goblet-shaped 
tree is produced with a solid main trunk not 
liable to split. The branches are sufficiently 
near the ground to allow the majority of the figs 
to be pulled by hand without the necessity to 
use a ladder, or without the inconvenience to 
climb the tree. In this way, also, the ground 
is kept cool and shaded, and not heated by the 
hot winds. The temperature of the fruit is 
thus kept more uniform, which, of course, is of 
the greatest importance. As regards after- 
pruning, it will only be necessary to from year 
to year cut out the dead wood and crossing and 
superfluous branches— to thin out, but not to 
cut back, except in an emergency. Such fig 
trees will be very different from those now 
generally seen. They will be trees grown for 
thair fruit, but not for their shade , 

Crops and Their Treatment. 

All cultivated varieties of figs have three 
crops of figs, inore or less distinct. The first of 
these crops are figs which were set already in 
the fall of the year previous, upon shoots formed 
in July and August. These figs are, except in 
a few varieties, of no value. They are larger, 
as a rule, than the later crop of figs, but not 
equal in flavor or sweetness. The French call 
these figs fig ^lem-es, meaning fig flowers. 
Through some documents kindly placed in my 
hands by Mr. Nelmes, of Pasadena, and also 
from the highly interesting work on the fig by 
Count Solms-Laubach. I find that in Smyrna 
such first-crop tigs are called Boccore. In Italy 
they are called mamme or fiore di fico; in 
Spanish, Breba. It would, however, be unjust 
to condemn all first-crop figs. The French grow 
for table use certain varieties of figs which pro- 
duce good first-crop figs or fig fleures, which are 
there used for table only. On such varieties the 
later crops are generally of indifferent quality. 
This first crop is generally ripe in May and June. 
The second crop of figs is the principal one, and 
in drying fig the only one of any value. These 
figs are developed the same year as they ripen, 
and are found at the inner base of every leaf, 
while the first crop is found scattered on the 
branches and in places where there was a leaf 
the previous year. In Smyrna this crop only is 
used for drying figs, and is there called Kar- 
mouse and Kermez. In Italy this crop is called 
profichi. This crop begins to mature there in 
the end of July, but the majority ripens in the 
middle of August. The crop lasts generally six 
weeks. The third crop may be considered as 
the tail of the second crop, and if the weather 
is favorable it will keep on ripening until frost. 
The figs of this the last crop are, in Italy, called 
mammoni. 

Here in Fresno I find the first Adriatic figs 
ripen in August, but the bulk of the crop will 
ripen in end of August and beginning of Sep- 
tember, yet superior figs will keep on ripening 
until October is well advanced. When the figs 
are ripe, or sufficiently ripe to be dried and 
cured, they in some varieties drop to the 
ground, but in others again hang on to the tree 
and must be cut ofi'. When this time arrives 
in Smyrna the figs are picked and put one by 
one, without touching each other, on mat- 
ting, or even on the ground covered with cut 
grass or straw. The figs are on this exposed to 
the sun for 10 to 12 days or less, according to 
the weather. To begin with they are turned ' 



every day, so as to be equally exposed to sun 
and air, and if dew is expected they are covered 
over with matting during the night time. 
What is needed during the drying season 
is not an excessive heat, but steady sunshine 
and dry winds. It seems to me that here in 
California we could satisfy the most exacting 
Turkish demands in this respect. When the 
figs are sufficiently dry, the skin feels dry, but 
the inside should yet be perfectly soft and pli- 
able. The ripe and sufficiently cured figs are 
now picked out, and the others left to remain 
until ready. It will thus be seen that the figs 
are not dried haphazard on roofs or the ground 
and then dumped into boxes and shipped. 
This I have known to be the general practice in 
California, and still we wonder why our figs 
are not any better. When the figs in Smyrna 
are dried sufficiently, they are by the fig- 
raisers assorted in three different sizes, then 
sacked in sacks made of camel's-hair — barley 
sacks would, on account of the fuzz, not do — 
and then sent into Smyrna. The merchant 
who has furnished the fig-raiser with his year's 
supply takes the crop out of his hands. The 
figs are now again assorted and are then ready 
to be packed. 

In Portugal they have either a diff'erent va- 
riety of fig or the climate is more favorable, as 
the figs there dry sufficiently in five tosixdays. 
It may, however, be that some years are more 
favorable than others, and I am rather inclined 
to think this to be the cause of the shorter time 
assigned to the drying in Portugal, Last year 
I dried some Adriatic figs in five days suffi- 
ciently, but this year, which in every respect has 
been an unfavorable one, it needed 10 to 12 
days to dry the same variety. 

In Portugal the figs are dried on mats made 
of the esparto weed —stipa tenacissima — which 
is now growing in this State. When the figs 
are sufficiently dried they are stored in bulk for 
five to six weeks, probably to undergo a sweat- 
ing process, or at least to have the moisture 
equalized. 

In France, where fig culture is carried on 
only under great difficulties, some proceedings 
are adopted to hasten the ripening of the fig, 
which I here will mention more as a curiosity 
than for any necessity in imitating them. My 
own experience is that none of the varieties 
which I have seen so far need the manipulation 
practiced by the French, so as to accomplish 
what nature, unaided, does for us: 

1. Shortly before the fruit is expected to 
set, the terminal buds of each branch are nipped 
oflf or suppressed; this prevents further ter- 
minal growth and throws the force of the sap 
into the lateral leaves or fruit-buds. 

2. When the figs have begun setting, all the 
pushing, lateral leaf-buds are also suppressed 
except two at the base of each fruit branch. 
These two buds are allowed to grow to serve as 
fruit-bearing branches for another year. The 
leaves at the base of each bud are, however, 
not disturbed, as they serve to draw the sap 
and furnish the developing figs with sufficient 
nourishment. 

3. Less than two weeks before the expected 
maturity of the fig, and when the eye of the tig 
begins to color, a drop of pure olive oil is de- 
posited on the eye of the fig. This operation 
is always performed in the evening, shortly be- 
fore sunset. The next day the fig, which was 
green and hard, shows softening and change of 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



47 



color, and the maturity of the fig is henceforth 
advanced eight days. This process is used 
only for table figs, but is not considered profit- 
able for figs destined to be dried. 

In some districts again a goosequill dipped in 
oil is inserted in the eye of the fig. Again, in 
others, the eye is simply punctured with a 
needle dipped in oil. In speculating upon the 
possible effect of this dipping and oiling, it may 
be of interest to remember the effect the boring 
of the larvce of the codlin moth has upon the 
apple and the pear, or the sting of insects gen- 
erally upon fruit, it causes them to ripen pre- 
maturely, evidently through the greater influx 
of sap, in the effort of the fruit to heal the 
wound. The few notices we have of fig drying 
in France are scanty enough, our only authority 
being Du Breuil, and the few remarks upon this 
subject which I am able to make, are princi- 
pally copied from him. 

The figs are packed after all the dew is evap- 
orated by the sun, placed on small trays made 
of reeds, and then exposed to the sun. Every 
evening these trays are either removed under 
shelter or covered over with cloths, etc., so to 
exclude dew or rain. Every morning and noon 
again the figs are turned in order to equally ex- 
pose every side to the sun. The figs are suffi- 
ciently dried -as soon as upon being flattened 
out toward the stalk they do not crack or 
break. If left later they will be too hard and 
spoil. In certain localities the figs are only 
picked when they begin to shrivel; they are 
then dried in the sun for two days and after- 
wards packed in sweat-boxes and let remain 
there for seven or eight days, and afterwards 
again dried in the sun. In rainy seasons the 
figs are dried in machine driers or evaporators, 
but there is some doubt of these figs being equal 
to sun-dried ones. In this respect different va- 
rieties of figs, no doubt, require entirely differ- 
ent treatment. 

In packing, Smyrna excels both Portugal and 
Spain. We all admire the way the Smyrna figs 
are packed — it is the very perfection, and I be- 
lieve cannot be improved upon. When the 
dried figs reach the packing houses, they are, 
as I said, again assorted by women, and then 
packed by men. While packing, the hands of 
the packers are constantly kept moist by sea 
water, which prevents the sugar sticking to the 
hands. There are two ways of packing: In 
the first the figs are flattened out in such a way 
that the eye of the fruit is placed very nearly 
in the center, and the stem very nearly opposite 
the same. The figs are now packed in layers 
in boxes, in such a way that the front margin 
of every fig just sufficiently covers the stalk end 
of the fig next in front. The figs are packed in 
straight rows the same in the bottom, middle 
and on top. To keep every row separate, and 
to prevent one row overlapping the other, I am 
satisfied that they use a small frame of iron, with 
partitions running longitudinally and vertically. 
The figs must first be packed in this frame and 
slightly pressed. The frame is now withdrawn 
from the box, and a heavy pressure is applied, 
which causes the surface to flatten out and be- 
come smooth. 

The second way the Smyrna figs are prepared 
is this: Instead of being pulled or flattened out 
the fig is compressed sideways until it assumes 
the shape of a small bag or cube or die. Upon 
opening a box of such figs the surface resembles 
a checkboard, every square being a fig. I have 



no doubt but that in this mode of packing an 
appliance is used somewhat similar to the par- 
titions in our common egg boxes, where each 
egg lies in its own square department. When 
all the figs are in position this partition is with- 
drawn and the figs are slightly pressed. These 
square figs are never pressed as heavily as the 
other kind. 

The size of package used for the Smyrna fig» 
has of late gradually decreased. The largest 
now containing 30 and 60 pounds. But smaller 
packages, as being much more handy, have be- 
come more common, and five and two and a 
half pound boxes are now sold most extensively. 
The smallest of all is undoubtedly the quarter- 
pound, oblong box, with one good fig on 
the top and with a few bad ones below, which 
are offered us by the railway boys. No uni- 
form size is used, and it seems that different 
brands are packed in different sizes, according 
to the size of the figs, which always in the flat- 
tened varieties are spread out to the best ad- 
vantage. The larger the fig, the more valued is 
the brand. The pulled and flattened figs are 
by the Turks called the Eleme. 

But this word is not always marked on the 
box, two and three Crown London layers being 
a common brand for the better figs. Inferior 
brands are packed in drums, with less expense 
and less careful manipulation, but also with less 
pretentions. Of the other packing of figs, those 
bag or die shaped ones, the finest brands 
I have seen were the Erbelli or Erbeyli and the 
Loucoum figs, especially the latter. Both Er- 
belli and Loucoum are the names of localities in 
the fig districts of Smyrna, and from examina- 
tion of those figs I am confident they are of a 
different variety. They seem to me different 
both in shape, color and flavor. 

The Portuguese figs are inferiorly packed in 
so called mats made of esparto weed. The 
best of those figs is the Fico da Comadre, evi- 
dently an entirely different variety from the 
Smyrna figs. The next best are the Pharo figs^ 
taking their name from the port of Pharo, from 
which they are exported. 

Drying in California. 
In drying the figs which I have exhibited 
here to-day, I endeavored to follow the Smyrna 
way as much as possible. While we evidently 
have yet much to learn in regard to the drying, 
and manipulating the tigs after they are dried, 
I still believe that we are a good way on the 
right track, and it will be for you to decide if 
my suppositions are correct. The variety ex- 
hibited at this horticultural meeting is the 
Adriatic, not only the best, but the only, 
which I have, so far, found suitable for drying 
for commercial purposes. 

When the figs began to wilt and to show 
small white seams they were cut from the trees 
by means of scissors or knife, then carefAlIy 
placed on trays similar to the raisin trays, I 
believe a further great improvement would be 
to nail laths across the bottom of the tray in 
such a way that they would form longitudinal 
ribs on the bottom, just the thickness of the 
lath, cr about one-eight inch. By placing the 
figs with the eye elevated on the rib the sugary 
contents are prevented from leaking out, which 
else may happen quite frequently. The figs are 
now placed in the sun to dry. They were 
turned every day to begin with by hand, but 
when more dry, in the same way we as turn 
the raisin trays. Every night the trays were 



48 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



covered over, and for this purpose it is best to 
have all the trays on one place, and not scat- 
tered around, as is the custom veith raisin trays. 
The figs are sufficiently dried when they show 
the same dryness in the morning as in the even- 
ing. This is a point of great importance. If 
not sufficiently dried, they will afterwards pufiF 
up and spoil, as if they were in a state of fer- 
mentation. In the evening the figs may seem 
to be sufficiently dried, but in the morning they 
will be found slightly swollen and puffed. They 
must then be dried more. It is, however, a 
great danger to overdry the figs. Such figs 
will get a cooked and earthy taste, which after- 
wards will never leave them, and which will in- 
jure them or spoil their value entirely. It took 
from five to twelve days to dry the figs, accord- 
ing to the weather. When dry they may be 
dumped in sweat boxes for a few days, but the 
better way is to dip and pack right away. Now 
prepare a kettle or tub with boiling water, in 
which put enough of common unrefined rock 
salt, such as is used for cattle; table salt will 
not do. I believe the more unrefined is the salt 
the better. Sea water may be preferable. The 
latter and the rock salt contain substances 
which preserve the moisture of the figs and 
keep them pliable. 

About three big handfuls of rock salt to one 
gallon of water is enough. When the salt is 
dissolved and the water is again boiling, im- 
merse the figs for two seconds; immediately af- 
terward thumb the figs, and work the eye of 
the fig downward and the stalk end upward; in 
fact, imitate the appearance of the imported 
Smyrna fig. This process is necessary. First, 
it distributes the thicker skin around the eye 
of the fig evenly, and in eating we thus get 
equal parts of tha thicker skin and equal parts 
of the thinner skin. Secondly, it places the 
fine skin of the stalk end all on top, and when 
the figs are packed and pressed they present a 
beautiful smooth surface. I believe the dip- 
ping of the figs in boiling salt-water may be dis- 
pensed with if the figs are sufficiently pliable 
without it. But it is absolutely indispensable 
to dip the figs in salt-water, and during the 
thumbing of the figs the hands of the packer 
must be constantly moistened by salt-water or 
the sugar will stick to the finger and make the 
operation almost impossible. After having 
been dipped in the brin^ the figs taste at first 
exceedingly salt, all the salt being on the sur- 
face; but after a few days the salt works into the 
fig and gives the fig a peculiar appetizing taste, 
counteracting the excessive sweetness, which 
else would be too predominant. I have 
examined the best Smyrna figs microsco- 
pically, and I find that the white 
floury substance, which on old figs covers their 
surface, is entirely due to uncrystallized grape 
sugar, sweated out from the fig, and to small 
crystals of rock salt. I believe that in Smyrna 
when the box is packed, and before it is pressed, 
the whole box is immersed in salt-brine, so that 
the latter will fill all the pores and crevices be- 
tween the figs, and thus kill any possible insect 
eggs and germs of fungoids or bacteria de- 
posited on the figs, which afterwards would 
cause them to become wormy and spoil. In 
opening fig boxes I have often found the sides 
covered with the white incrustations of salt. 

The heavy pressing of the figs, which is al- 
ways so strong that it causes them to burst at 
1;he stalk end, is much objected to by the con- 



sumers, as it evidently defaces the figs. But 
nevertheless, this compression is absolutely 
necessary. It prevents insects from entering 
between the figs, and it prevents the air to en- 
ter and thus dry out the figs. Observation and 
practice has shown me this to be the case. 

As my own crop this year has not been suf- 
ficient to place the same on the wholesale mar- 
ket, I have not pressed them as much as they 
otherwise should have been pressed, and my 
object was to keep the figs more intact, 

As guide, however, to those who now enter 
upon the fig culture, I will here state what I 
consider necessary appliances- for packing figs. 
Thus, four things are necessary: 

1. One box ot wood to hold the figs. 

2. An iron frame or box with bottom just 
large enough to slip outside of the fig box and 
hold it tightly. 

3. An iron frame without bottom or top to 
fit snugly inside the fig box. This iron frame 
has two or three partitions inside, also of 
galvanized iron, I'unning parallel to two oppo- 
site sides of the fig box. This iron frame with 
its partitions can be roughly compared to a 
brick mold made for three or four bricks at a 
time. In packing Erbelli or Loucoum figs this 
iron mold should also have cross partitions and 
the whole then would resemble the partition 
used in our common egg boxes, only instead of 
holding eggs our mold would hold figs. 

4. A press. The procedure of packing is 
now as follows: First insert the mold just 
described in the wooden fig box. This box will 
now be found divided by the partitions of the 
mold in as many chambers, but open from the 
top. Pack the figs in each longitudinal chamber 
in the way Smyrna figs are packed. When 
done press lightly. Now withdraw the frame 
by pulling it up. Insert the fig box in the 
first described frame and subject it to gradually 
increasing pressure. 

I believe a press similar to what is 
now used by the Fresno and Los An- 
geles raisin packers would be the best 
for this purpose. This press is worked by 
levers, and can keep four or more boxes under 
pressure as long a time as required. When suffi- 
ciently pressed withdraw the fig box from the 
iron frame and nail on the cover. The figs are 
now ready for shipment. In case my 
description should not have been sufficiently 
clear, I may state that the iron frame, which 
slips outside the box is simply to prevent the 
fig box bursting open, when subjected to pres- 
sure. The frame, again, which goes inside only 
serves to keep the figs in rows and separate the 
rows. Without this it is impossible to prevent 
the figs overlapping, which very much de- 
tracts from their appearance. 

Capriflcation. 

I have so far not touched upon the practice 
indulged in in the countries round the Mediter- 
ranean, and there known as capriflcation. Be- 
fore I enter further upon this most interesting 
subject, I will state as my opinion, founded 
upon my experience here, that, at least with 
the Adriatic fig, the capriflcation is not neces- 
sary, as this fig bears abundant and well- 
matured crops without the same. The caprifi- 
cation has been practiced by the Mediterranean 
fig-growers for 2000 years or more, or as long 
as any historical record can be traced back. 
The Roman naturalist, Pliny, who lived 1800 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



49 



The Roman naturalist, Pliny, who lived 1800 
years ago, described the same minutely, and, 
as in his time, the same modus ojnrandi is 
practiced to-day. After him it has been seen 
and described by most travelers scientifically 
and otherwise. The following, in short, is the 
way the operation is performed: When the 
figs to be used for drying are of the size of a 
hazel nut, generally in the middle of June, wild 
figs of a variety called the Capri fig are gath- 
ered. Five or six of these are .strung on a 
string, and this again is hung or thrown over 
the cultivated fig tree. As the tree is increas- 
ing in size from year to year, more strings with 
figs are hung on the tree, but more than six 
strings, with altogether about 30 wild or Capri 
figs, are never hung on the larges''' tree at one 
and the same time. The figs are hung on the 
trees about one hour before sunrise, when the 
weather is fine, and no wind blowing. If too 
many figs are hung on the tree, it is said the 
figs will either fall off or become inferior. The 
same operation is repeated wi h the second crop 
figs. What effect has, then, this caprification 
on the fruit of the cultivated figs? This is a 
question which has been asked repeatedly, bat 
though some very prominent scientific observ- 
ers have investigated the subject, the same is 
not yet to this day fully explained. Some very 
interesting facts are, however, known, and 
these are of sufficient importance to be here 
considered. The fig itself is something more 
than a seed vessel of a flower. The fleshy part 
is a thickened, hollow receptacle, closed, except 
at the very narrow opening called the eye, situ- 
ated at the top of the fig. This receptacle on 
its inner side contains numerous minute flow- 
ers, crowded together and covering the whole 
of the surface of the cavity. These flowers are 
male and female, or staminate and pistillate. 
The female flowers occupy by far the lar^^est 
room, and all the lower part of the cavity. The 
male flowers, again, the more or less narrow 
zone, immediately surrounding the eye of the 
fig. In the cultivated or edible fig the male 
flowers are generally wanting or rather replaced 
by barren scale-like leaflets. In the different 
crops, the proportion between the male and 
female flowers is quite different. The figs of the 
first crop, or the bocorre are those which carry 
the most male flowers. The second crop, or 
the "karmouse," carry few, and the third or 
last crop carry none but female flowers. As I 
said, except in the wild or Capri fig, the male 
flowers are seldom developed. In the figs 
grown in California, and which I have had op- 
portunity to investigate, the male flowers were 
always replaced by scales; this has also been 
previously found to be the case in Italy, and 
Professor Arcangeli states that according to his 
own observations the two most generally culti- 
vated figs around Pisa, the Fico verdino and the 
Fico piombi/iese, never have any perfect seeds 
developed, while the Fico blancolino, which is 
considered a semi-wild species, has, among 
numerous imperfect seeds, some which are 
easily germinated. 

As an aid for those who are no botanists to 
distinguish between good and barren fig seeds, I 
will mention that if thrown in water the good 
ones will sink, but the barren or not fertile ones 
will float on top of the surface. If crushed the 
fertile one will be found to contain an almond- 
like kernel. The barren ones will again be seen 
to be only empty shells, but of the same size 



and of nearly the same color as the good seed. 
From a prominent botanist in San Francisco I 
learn, however, that both California and Austra- 
lian figs occasionally have developed male 
flowers, but they always develop much later 
than the female flowers of the same fig and thus 
never can serve to fertilize those of the same 
fig, but only those of other figs. This fertiliza- 
tion, if it takes place, must therefore be made 
by the aid of insects. The part that these take 
in causing the maturing of certain figs was al- 
ready observed by the ancients. They found 
that a small, yes very minute, wasp infested the 
wild or Capri fig, and that when transferred to 
the cultivated figs they prevented the same 
from falling off, or at least hastened their ripen- 
ing. 

To understand this better we will describe 
the Capri fig. This fig contains no saccharine 
matter, is of much smaller size, and when 
reaching maturity it dries up and falls ofi". It 
produces three crops. The ^rst crop, which 
hangs through winter and ripens in April, is 
called in Italy mamme (by the ancient Romans 
cratitires). This crop is followed in June by 
the second crop, or what is called the prqfichi 
(ancient orni), and lastly the September, the 
third, crop is called the mammoni (ancient 
fornitis). If we now closely examine the second 
crop, or the profichi, when fully ripe, we see 
here and there a black winged insect emerging 
from the orifice or eye at the top; its hairy 
body is dusted over with pollen grains from the 
male flowers, adhering to the hair when the 
insect crawled through the narrow male flower 
zone. And if we cut open one of those figs, we 
find inside a considerable number of similar in- 
sects, all striving to get out. 

These insects, named already by Linnasus 
Cynips psenes, are partly winged, partly wing- 
less. The former, or winged ones, are females, 
the other, wingless, males. The winged females 
as soon as they leave profichi or second crop, 
visit the last or third crop, the mammoni, and 
deposit eggs in their female flowers. Similarly 
the winged females that develop in this crop, or 
mammoni, visit the yet young figs of the first 
crop, or the mamme, and deposit eggs in them. 
If now these .Capri figs are hung in among the 
branches of the cultivated fig, the insects crawl 
out of the Capri figs and into the cultivated figs 
in mistake. Because, while the females with 
impunity can deposit their eggs in the Capri 
figs, they are ensnared into the cultivated figs 
by the sweet honey-like contents, and die in 
the attempt to reach the ovary of the flower. 
The eggs of the Cynips are not deposited 
loosely on the female flowers, but by the 
aid of the tube or ovipositor inserted between 
the branches of the flower stigma into the 
integuments of the ovule of the female 
flower, else the Cynips^ eggs are said not 
to develop. The fertility of these Cynips is 
astonishing and a few of them is sufficient to 
pierce all the female flowers of a fig. This 
piercing of the flowers causes a kind of gall 
formation, which, while it does not prevent the 
development of the seed, causes the same and 
the whole fig receptacle to r"ipen prematurely. 
Perhaps in the same way as the wounds caused 
by the larvas of the codlin moth hasten the 
ripening of the apple. That the caprification 
is practiced in Smyrna and in all the Mediter- 
ranean countries as well as in Portugal is aa 
established fact. The wild fig or Capri fig is 



50 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



in Portugal called Figo do Toca or Chocho. 
That the fig flowers can not be fertilized but 
from the pollen of the male flowers from other 
figs is fully established; be these flowers the 
male flowers of the cultivated figs or those of 
the Capri fig. 

In the very choicest Smyrna figs, however, I 
have found numerous fertile seeds, but also 
many ones empty. If these good seeds are 
"hybridized by the pollen of the Capri fig, they 
certainly will not produce figs equal to those 
the seeds were taken from, but rather hybrids 
between the edible and the Capri fig. I have 
from the choicest Eleme, Erbeyli and others 
raised several thousand seedlings, and the 
future will tell me if they produce hybrid fruit 
or not. Some botanists have advanced to me 
the theory that through long cultivation the 
highly cultivated figs similarly to the ba- 
nana and the seedless grape and the melon 
shrub, have become entirely barren and both the 
female and male flowers lost their original 
functions. This,' however, is contradicted 
through the seedlings I raised from these the 
finest figs. 

In regard to the advisibility of importing the 
Cynips or insect that fertilizes the figs, I am 
told by a prominent entomologist of San Fran- 
cisco that numerous other insects also visit the 
figs, and that we here in California have several 
varieties of insects which, so to say, would only 
be too happy to invest in our figs, provided we 
only are mutually accommodating to fui'nish 
them with the Capri fig. 

To sum up my ideas of the caprification: I 
believe that the same is not practiced solely for 
the purpose of fertilizing the cultivated figs or 
prevent them from falling off, as we have 
proved that we, without this process, here in 
California produce as fine, and perhaps larger, 
crops — but also, and perhaps principally to 
hasten the development of the figs, perhaps for 
the purpose of getting them dried and mar- 
keted before the rainy season commences. If 
this should be so, then the caprification should 
correspond with the methods usjed by the 
French — the oiling and puncturing methods de- 
scribed above, which we know are solely prac- 
ticed to hasten the maturity of the fruit. 

Forests and Fruit Growers. 

The following essay was read by Abbot Kin- 
ney, of Kinneloa, San Gabriel: 

Forests are most important to the welfare of 
the human family. Their beneficial action may 
be regarded under three heads. First — There 
is the sentimental one, in which we regard the 
forest from its beautiful side. Second — There 
is its productive capacity. Third — Its influence 
on climate and humidity and therefore on 
agriculture and on health. 

The solitude and quietness of the forest have 
always had their charms and delights for man- 
kind. Its repose is tempered by the gentle 
movement of the rustling leaves. 

The tall straight stems and the beautiful 
lines of the trees lead the mind insensibly to 
the contemplation of truth and of grand things. 
So we find the first assembly places of men to 
worship God were under trees. Our own an- 
cestors under the Druids had their re- 
ligious ceremonies in groves of spreading oaks. 
The wood has been congenial as well to science 
as to religion. Plato gave the world his 
thought from a grove. 



This was the custom generally of the Greek 
philosophers, and their name for a grove, 
"academy," has been added to our lan- 
guage, meaning an educational institution. 
Great men have almost always loved the for- 
est, and have retired to its sheltered glades for 
rest and thought. Not only is this true of 
heroes of the past, but the leading men of our 
own day show the same leaning. Gladstone, in 
England, seeks the grove for his leisure hour, 
and in our own country the President has but 
recently returned from the Adirondack woods. 

He who cares nothing for the forest, who has 
no love for any tree, has such a perverted na- 
ture as to be unfitted for sympathizing with 
human thought and action, and therefore of 
controling human destinies. 

Thex-e is a business side too in the beautiful 
view of the forest. The public parks are but 
imitations of the natural woodland glade — no 
city in our country from New York with its 
Central to San Francisco with its Golden Gate 
Park, but enjoys and prizes above any other 
public ground these miniature forests and none 
but derive health and ad%'antage through them 
to their people. Some of the largest parks in 
the country, as the Yellowstone National Park, 
the Yosemite Valley, etc., are mainly dependent 
for their attractions on the preservation of the 
forests in their native state. Such parks are of 
great value to communities : giving health and 
pleasure to those who avail themselves of their 
privileges and attracting travelers from distant 
lands, who make work and business wherever 
they go. The protection of the Yosemite Valley 
in this State has brought thousands on thous- 
ands of tourists to our borders, andhas added ma- 
terially to the prosperity, first of those minister- 
ing directly to their wants, and through them to 
the whole community. Such a reservation on 
the second Sierra Madre range in this county, 
where beautiful scenery of mountain and forest 
now exist would surely be of benefit in the way 
of advertising the locality and attracting stran- 
gers to our community, and also providing a 
public resort for our own people. The forest 
from its productive side is of still more import- 
ance. 

What trade or business is there into which wood 
does not enter directly or indirectly ? Wood is 
used from the farmer's plow handle to the bank- 
er's desk, from the pew and pulpit of the church 
to the gallows where the criminal disappears from 
society, from the gallant ship that sails the sea to 
the little skiff of the fisherman. In this country 
our houses, churches, and schools are largely 
built of wood, and always furnished with it. In 
fact, everything from the railroad car running 
on express speed to the boy's top are dependent 
on this material for existence. Even coal, its 
substitute as fuel, is only a preserved and solidi-. 
fied form of wood, mined by picks with wooden 
handles, taken" up with wooden -handled shovels, 
run out on wooden cars, and taken to market in 
wooden wagons, canal boats or other vessels. 

As might be expected, when we think on all 
the uses of wood, the annual consumption of 
this material is greater than that of any other 
in the country, having been, according to the 
last census, $700,000,000 (seven hundred million 
dollars). 

Prof. Eggleston estimates the products of for- 
ests for last year at $800,000,000. This is con- 
siderably greater than corn, our largest agri- 
cultural crop, is over double our wheat crop, 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



51 



and more than the combined value of the crops 
of hay, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes 
and tobacco. It is 10 times the value of the 
products of all this country's mines of precious 
metals. The capital invested in the lumbering 
business alone now is over $200,000,000. 

The wood used for domestic purposes, accord- 
ing to the census of 1880, was valued at $321,- 
962,729. 

The supply of railroad ties for one year has 
required the cutting of a forest area as large as 
the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
As these ties require renewing about every 
seven years, this necessitates more than 56,- 
000,000 ties a year, or the timber growing on 
more than 560,000 acres; so allowing 30 years 
for the growth of such timber, there would be 
required an area about the size of New Jersey, 
Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut to pro- 
duce this amount annually and regularly. 

That is, dividing such an area into 30 parts 
would give the ties needed for each year on 
one of the parts, and when the last lot had 
been cut the first would again be ready. 

The timber now standing in the United 
States will not, at the present rate of consump- 
tion, for all purposes, furnish a supply 
for over 20 years. I regret that this time 
and place will not allow me to give Prof. 
Sirgent's exhaustive figures proving this 
to be the fact. We should not think that 
California is safe from so near a wood fam- 
ine. Only a few weeks ago some Eastern lum- 
bermen came from their exhausted fields and 
located themselves in the Sierra Nevadas, and 
intend to put $3,000,000 into the business. 
With the destruction of Eastern forests such 
items of news will be very common, and our 
timber must be swept out of existence into the 
Eastern market. The annual forest production 
is greater than that of anything else in this 
country. It seems clear that the preservation 
of this productive capacity is highly import- 
ant. 

There is no trade or industry that will not be 
materially and unfavorably effected by a fall- 
ing off in the supply of. lumber and wood, un- 
less we except those industries that would at a 
greatly enhanced cost supply a substitute for it, 
as by making iron hoe- handles and the like. 
The materials of the carpenter, the pegs of the 
shoemaker, the wheel of the wagon-maker, the 
domestic fuel of the countryman and a thou- 
sand things will become scarcer and dearer as 
the forests disappear. Many trades will go 
with the trees — the cheap and healthy wooden 
house we shall hnow no more. 

To preserve some reasonable evenness be- 
tween the supply and the demand of wood, the 
forests must be guarded against improvident 
working, the renewing power of the trees must 
be maintained, and, most of all, the grosswaste 
and wanton destruction of the forests by ani- 
mals and fire must be stopped. Those espe- 
cially interested in wood and lumber products, 
and those dependent on this supply, should be 
the first to exert themselves to bring about 
these results, otherwise such persons as carpen- 
ters and all wood -workers will before long be 
without an occupation. 

The lumbermen can do a great deal in this 
direction. * * * * * 

The Canadian Government now controls the 
working of all government timber land and 
charges a price for the privilege, usually based 



on the stumps of the trees cut. Waste and 
destruction are by law prevented, fire being 
guarded against by obliging the lumbermen to 
clear up as they cut, that is to use or make safe 
disposition of the branches and refuse wood. 
Nearly every fire in the woods burns up more 
or less lumber and cord-wood and thus injures 
those who derive their support from the forest 
aa well as the forests themselves. Mr. Little, 
a practical lumberman from Montreal, speaking 
in the Forestry Convention held in Boston dur- 
ing September 1885 said, "that an experience 
of 50 years convinced him that the lumbermen 
were the most to blame for forest fires and lost 
more than others by them. The reason why so 
much was lost by fire was the way in which the 
lumbermen cut the wood and left the branches. 
He believed that it would pay the lumbermen 
to be more careful in their management of camp 
fires, in 1880, the cut of lumber was 18,000,- 
000,000 feet; last year it was 28,000,000,000 
feet, a very rapid increase. In 1880, there were 
marketed about 146,000,000 cords of wood and 
74,000,000 bushels of charcoal. This would 
clear in a year 30,000,000 acres of forest, an 
area about the size of New York State. Hewn 
timber posts, telegraph poles, etc., demand 
much wood. Ten million (10,000,000) acres of 
forest were either altogether destroyed or 
seriously injured in 1880 by fire. In all, there 
is an annual drain on the forests of over 50,000,- 
000 of acres. 

The waste is the most painful part of this 
whole business. In California one may see in 
the south Paisanos cutting the limbs from oak 
trees to sell for fire wood, leaving the trunks as 
too expensive to work; in other places lumber- 
men use the clear timber alone, leaving the 
branches and small wood to rot, or endanger 
the remaining trees by the heat of the fires that 
so often occur. In another place they only take 
the bark for tanning purposes, leaving the 
whole tree, save its skin only, to go to waste. 
In no way does it seem possible to prevent this 
waste and destruction, except by Government 
control and supervision; even if there were no 
waste, there ought still to be a control of the 
forests to preserve their recreative and produc- 
tive power so fast disappearing. 

This waste by man and fire has grown, until 
it now endangers the welfare of the laboring 
people ( of the country, of the timber interest, 
the greatest of the country, and perhaps endan- 
gers the productiveness of the country itself 
through climatic changes. It has altered from 
being carelessness to being a crime, and should 
be put an end to. 

The third view of the utility of forests is one 
that ought to attract great and immediate at- 
tention in California, specially here in the 
southern part of the State. 

The effect of the forests on climate, and con- 
sequently on all human activities, is well rec- 
ognized. The Prussian Forestry Commission 
has demonstrated, by experiment under Prof. 
Muttrich, that the temperature of trees is 
nearly constant, at about 54 degrees, and that 
the temperature and humidity of the air is posi- 
tively affected by forests. Thus, woodlands 
have a modifying effect, similar to that of the 
sea, upon the air that surrounds us, preventing 
the extremes of heat and cold, and of dryness 
that would and do occur upon lands when 
there are no trees. Rapid alterations of tem- 
perature are the causes of strong winds, storms. 



52 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



heavy rains, cloud bursts, hails, etc. Forests 
reduce the violence and frequence of these, and 
distribute the rainfall more evenly and prevent 
the extreme and trying dryness always found 
at times in places from which more than the 
proper proportion of forest has been removed. 

No one who has lived in a wooded country 
can have failed to notice that the roads after 
rains always dried fastest in the open, and that 
the mud remained longest in those parts of the 
way shaded by trees. Evaporation and rapid 
running off of the water is in such shaded spots 
less than in the bare, open fields. The roadway 
skirting the forest of Meudon has been often 
cited in this connection. The road is bordered 
by two drainage ditches, one on the forest side 
and the other next the fields. In the first 
ditch the water is always clear and trickles 
through it long after the rains cease, while on 
the other side a muddy rill runs only during 
the rain, to disappear immediately when the 
rain stops. 

The valley of the St. Phalaz is another inter- 
esting instance from France. Here there are 
two valleys as nearly as possible equal in size 
and inclination of watershed, one bare and the 
other forested. In the first, heavy rains are 
followed by torrents which destroy the roads 
and wash away bridges, destructively rolling 
rocks and gravel into the bottom lands. After 
rains there is no water; everything is dry. In 
the forested valley no dangerous or damaging 
floods occur. The water remains clear, and 
persists after the rains cease. 

M. M. Jeandel, Cautgril and Bellaud, 
Gardes Generaux des Forets addressed a memoir 
to the Academy of Sciences of France, in 1861, 
on this subject. Their observations were made 
in two basins of the Meurthe of similar size and 
inclinltion, but one destitute of trees and the 
other largely covered with them. Their extended 
and careful observations showed that in the bare 
basin it was either a flood or a drouth as re- 
gards the streams, while in the forest covered 
basin, rains caused less increase in the streams, 
while the waters of these persisted in a peren- 
nial flow. From St. Helena, Ascension, South 
America and South Afiica come observations 
corroborating those already cited, many of 
which I have quoted in former papers on this 
subject. 

The Willimantic Thread Company some time 
since accidentally illustrated the influence of 
plants on the atmosphere. The nature of the 
opei-ations of this company demanded a reason- 
able and constant humidity of the atmosphere 
in their shops. To obtain this they had em- 
ployed two men and a spraying machine, but 
Col. Barrows, desiring to increase the comfort 
and pleasure of his operatives, commenced the 
cultivation of plants around the factory and 
placed many in the rooms, employing one 
gardener to take care of them. The atmosphere 
was at once changed in character; the spraying 
machine was no longer needed, one man's 
wages were saved, and the operatives were sur- 
rounded by beautiful flowers and their lives 
made more pleasant. 

Throughout Europe the view is held that from 
one-quarter to one-third the area of a country 
should be wooded to produce the best agricul- 
tural results. That is, leaving the flow of 
springs and streams aside, still the influence of 
forests upon temperature and general humidity 
is such that denudation of trees beyond a certain 



doint, although increasing the productive area, 
diminishes the total output. 

With more work on a larger area, less is pro- 
duced. This result, and secondarily the disap- 
pearance of springs, and the diminution of 
streams, consequent on the destruction of the 
woods, has caused every European Government 
except England, which is peculiarly situated, 
to institute forest departments, and look after 
and control the exploitation of wood. 

One of the familiar illustrations showing the 
effect of trees on other vegetation is that plants 
under or sheltered by trees or belts of wood are 
less liable to frost and to losing their fruit by 
wind than those not so situated. What a few 
trees do for a small area many do for a large 
one, and we read now that peaches, grapes, and 
other fruits that formerly flourished in Canada, 
Michigan and other parts of America, have, 
since the general destruction of surrounding 
forests, ceased to bear so well as before, and, in 
many places the trees themselves have died and 
new plantations are without vigor or promise. 
These results may not be wholly due to de- 
forestation, but the greater injury now than 
formerly by frost through these districts indi- 
cates that a change has taken place in their cli- 
mates, while at the same time a geueral destruc- 
tion of forests has gone on. 

In open plains the evaporation is very great 
not only from the soil but from such vegetation 
as may be found there. The excessive evapora- 
tion produces cold and frost detrimental to 
crops and also causes a desiccation of the air 
which is sometimes equally destructive. 

Often in Southern California when the wind 
blows from the bare deserts the excessive dry- 
ness blackens and kills tender vegetation just 
as frost does. Were the mountains as bare as 
the deserts, as they certainly will be if much 
longer unprotected, these winds will be still 
drier and more injurious to agriculture. This 
is shown by the fact that, as we approach the 
desert and such places where the mountains 
are bare or off'er no barrier to these winds, vege- 
tation is more injured than elsewhere. 

In the open, also, greater heat prevails as 
well as cold. In passing over a sandy field, the 
heat is greater than it is on a grassy one and on 
this greater than in a shaded wood. It is on 
account of these variations of temperature that 
columns of air change place more rapidly in 
open than in wooded countries. This action 
we call storms, whirlwinds, etc. It is probable 
that a tornado never originated in a wood. 

The mitigation of frosts by forests operates 
again indirectly to favor vegetation. Dr. Wil- 
liams of Vermont made some experiments on 
this point in Vermont in the years 1789 to 1791 
inclusive, and his figures as published by Marsh 
show that there is an average difference between 
the ground temperature of the forest and open 
fields of about eight degrees. On January 14th 
1791, he found the ground in an open field fro- 
zen three feet and five inches deep, while the 
thermometer at six inches below the surface of 
the ground in the forest stood at 39 degrees or 
seven degrees above the freezing point. Bous- 
singault's experiments in France show the same 
results, while on the other hand, the snow re- 
mained in the forest long after it had blown 
away or melted in the open. 

This is not directly important on our Cali- 
fornia plains, but becomes so because the snow- 
fall in the mountains, as on the Sierra at San 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



53 



Bernardino and San Jacinto, if it melts quickly, 
runs off in floods, while if the melting happens 
slowly, the springs fill up and the streams flow 
more' evenly. The San Antonio and the range 
where the San Gabriel rises are also afl"ected by 
frosts and snow. Tlie Tulare and Fresno 
country is especially so afifected. Thus, we see 
that forests affect vegetation, not only by the 
more even temperature and mitigation of at- 
mospheric changes, but also by preserving the 
lowlands from floods and giving them springs 
and perennial streams. 

This is a matter of the greatest importance to 
us in California. A large part of our agricul- 
ture depends on irrigation, and even where this 
is not the case, our domestic use of water re- 
quires the permanence of springs and wells. 
The mountains in this State receive the greater 
portion of the precipitation of moisture that 
takes place here, either as snow or rain. The 
rainfall at the base of Mt. Shasta is 60 or 70 
inches annually, while at Sacramento it is iu 
the twenties. At my ranch, at the base of the 
Sierra Madre, in the rainy season of '83-'S4, 60 
inches of rain fell, while at Los Angeles, 15 
miles away, but 38 inches were recorded. 

Probably in the mountains themselves a still 
greater difference would have been observed. 
It is true that rain gauges on the same building 
at different hights and in the same town at dif- 
ferent points, but with other conditions equal, 
vary often as much as two or three inches for 
a season. This has been the case in Los Angeles 
city. 

There are several rain gauges carefully kept 
there, no two of which ever agree. But the fact, 
I believe, has been universally recognized and 
observed that the rainfall on mountains is 
greater than that on adjoining plains. The 
mountains then are the reservoirs of the coun- 
try. It is amongst them that our supply for 
the dry season falls, and it is in their soils, strata 
and fissures that the water must be held to flow 
off equally in summer, appearing in springs or in 
wells far from where it fell. 

Whether the forests attract rain or snow is 
not settled. The authorities vary on the point. 
Draper is strongly against it, but others support 
the theory. In this country during the last 
ten years the rainfall in the Rocky Mountain 
region has had a marked decrease; forests dur- 
ing this time in that section from Utah and 
'Colorado to Montana have been largely destroy- 
ed either for railroads, mining and other similar 
^.urposes, or by fire. During the same decade 
the rainfall in those States west of and contig- 
uous to the Mississippi river, has increased while 
at the same time an extensive planting of trees 
has taken place in the district. Dr. W. M.Goodwin 
of La Crosse and Dr. L. Sternberg of Fort Bark- 
er, Kansas, with whom I have corresponded, say 
that springs have appeared where before un- 
known in that State consequent upon the plant- 
ing of trees. Whether the rainfall has perma- 
nently increased or not, the springs have come 
with the trees. Mr. C. Grayden who has inter- 
ests in the island of Santa Cruz in the Danish 
West Indies tells me that since the burning and 
destruction of the forests in that island the 
■climate and rainfall have entirely changed. 
Everything is drier; the rain he says conies 
more violently and less frequently. During 
rains now, one can hear the stones and boulders 
roar as they are carried down the mountain 
sides to cover and destroy the fertile valley 



lands below. Cattle at times die of thirst and 
have often to be fed during considerable periods, 
none of which misfortunes occurred while the 
due proportion of forests remained. 

Forests preserve the rains through their pre- 
vention of too rapid evaporation, by holding the 
porous upper soil in place, and creating with 
their leaves and decay the "humus," wihich of 
all soils is that which takes up and holds the 
moisture; and also by the conduits into the lower 
ground formed by their roots. Trees by these 
means allow the water to escape into lower 
strata, and finally, by the thousand impediments 
the forest offers, the waters are retarded and 
given time to sink. Water never flows to cut 
land on a wooded slope; this occurs only in the 
open. When the long mesa back of Pasadena 
was covered more or less with brush and native 
growth, water did not flow from it into the 
town center, nor did it ever flow into the swail 
extending to and across Colorado street, near 
the new school. Since these lands have been 
burnt over and cleared, things have changed 
and for the last two. years during rains, water 
cuts gulches, injures orchards and lands where 
it never did so before. 

In Europe such an irregular flow of water is 
called a torrent, and the records are full of 
their creation by reason of the destruction of 
forests, and of their extinction where the trees 
have been replanted : but this, of course, in 
consequence of the washing away of the soil 
where the trees are gone is very expensive. In 
the south of France, where the Government is 
reclaiming the country from the desolation that 
has followed the ruin of the great forests, Livy 
speaks of, they are carrying dirt up the 
mountains in baskets on muleback to start the 
little trees, and the plantations succeed very 
well. 

When such trouble is taken and such ex- 
pense incurred to plant trees, we may well con- 
clude that it would be cheaper and better to 
take care of the forests in the first place. M. 
Blauqui, the distinguished French economist, 
in 1848 after visiting provinces in the mount- 
ainous parts of France once densely populated, 
presented a detailed memoir of his observations 
to the French Academy. He says : "The Alps 
of Provence present a terrible aspect. In the 
more equable climate of Northern France one 
can form no conception of those parched 
mountain gorges, where not even a bush can be 
found to shelter a bird; where, at most, the 
wanderer sees in summer here and there a 
withered lavander; where all the springs ivere 
dried up, and where a dead silence, hardly bro- 
ken by the hum of an insect, prevails. But if 
a storm bursts forth masses of water suddenly 
shoot from the mountain hights into the shat- 
tered gulfs — wash, without irrigating; deluge, 
without refreshing the soil which they overflow 
in their swift descent, and leave it even more 
scarred than it was from lack of moisture. " 

"Man at last retires from the fearful desert, 
and I have the present season found not a liv- 
ing soul in districts where I remembered to 
have enjoyed hospitality 30 years ago." 

Blauqui's account is one that couid be easily 
duplicated. The result of hydraulic mining in 
this State is child's fif^y, to what I have my- 
self witnessed as the result of forest destruc- 
tion in mountains. Many villages and even 
districts have been deserted along the Italian, 
French and Austrian Alps, on account of tor- 



54 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



rents, and many others are in imminent danger 
of the same fate. The Talfer torrent at Botzen 
has been diked up year after year, until when I 
saw it in 1879, the bed of the stream was al- 
ready even with roofs of the houses, and these 
are tall. The tower steeples of the villages of 
Schlanders, Kortch and Laas are lower than the 
surface of the Gadribach, and so the instances 
multiply beyond any handling in this paper. 
We have, however, several cases here at our 
elbows of the alteration of streams by the burn- 
ing of the brush on their water-sheds. Mr. A. 
W. Canfield, Supt. of the Mission Water Co., 
of Santa Barbara^ informed me of the results of 
a fire on the water shed of that stream, as fol- 
lows: 

1st. The green trees were replaced by bare 
rocks; thus, the beauty and attractiveness of the 
country was diminished; 2d, the streams took a 
torrential character, by land slides and wash- 
outs carrying off soil, sand and rocks, to deposit 
them again on lower grades in its course; thus, 
every rain filled up the water company's dam 
and reservoir with debris; 3d, while the east 
fork, with its forested water-sheds intact main- 
tained its usual flow of water, the desolated 
Mission creek was so materially diminished in 
its summer flow as now to contain no more 
water than its formerly smaller tributary. Loss 
severe fires have produced similar results in the 
Precipice and Kinney canyons back of Pasa- 
dena and San Gabriel. The summer water in 
both was less for some years after the fires that 
injured the brush and trees on their water 
sheds than before. 

Col. Markham, Mr. S. Washburn, Dr. Rigg 
and General Whittaker, of Pasadena, are all 
familiar with facts showing the drying up of 
springs and trees consequent upon the destruc- 
tion of trees. I am embarrassed by the mass 
of facts which I have gathered on this point. 
Time will not permit much longer attention to 
this subject. I shall therefore only give the 
last two cases that have come to my notice. 

Tne Torrens river, Mr. Brown the forest com- 
missioner of South Australia, savs, has 
materially changed in character. Formerly 
water was to be found in it at all seasons, now 
the deep places have been filled by sand and 
gravel, and in places where formerly people 
crossed in ferries they now cross during most of 
the year drj'-shod. Dew has also disappeared 
from many localities where previously abun- 
dant. The great destruction of forests in Aus- 
tralia is due mainly to the sheepmen who kill 
the trees by girdling, expecting the denuded 
land to carry more sheep than it otherwise 
would. 

The next instance to be given is that of the 
Schuylkill river at Philadelphia. Sixty years 
ago the engineers estimated the summer flow of 
this stream at 500,000,000 gallons per day (five 
hundred million). In 1874, the minimum flow 
had dwindled to 250,000,000 gallons per day. 
The diminution is attributed to the cutting down 
of the forest at its source. In Europe meas- 
ures have been kept of the depth and flow of 
the principal rivers there, on some of them for 
as long as 150 years. The Danube, the Elbe, 
Rhine, Oder and Volga, have all diminished in 
volume; where ships couLi once sail boats can 
now scarcely get along. Ten feet is a frequent 
lessening of depth, in these rivers. 

These facts, as has been said, have forced 
European Governments to take protective 



measures in reference to their forests. It has not 
been a matter of choice but of necessity. It is 
their endeavor to main ain all waste places in 
forest, cutting the trees so that they will grow 
again, and maintaining about one-third of their 
surface permanently in forest. Few countries 
have less than this amount of land unfit for 
agriculture but good for trees. Alsace and 
Lorraine, the two valued ex-provinces of France, 
have 38 per cent of their surface covered with 
forests which pays a net revenue of $3 an acre. 
All the forests under Government management 
in Europe pay greater or less net revenue. That 
of India does so also, the last figures I have seen 
showing a net return of over $1,000,000 (one 
million dollars) for that dependency of England. 
Thus the Governments of Europe derive a 
revenue while preserving their countries from 
the fate that has overtaken the once cedar- 
covered hills of Lebanon, of Palestine — the land 
of milk and honey, now almost a desert, of 
Persia where most of our fruits originated, of 
Greece and of portions of their own lands. The 
pathway of civilization has been strewn with 
the wrecks of fertile lands. Forestry holds out 
hopes that these results are not necessary and 
may be avoided. 

Our own country has no national forestry 
system, and the systems of the 16 States that 
have taken action in this matter are more or 
less crude and defective. The United States 
land laws now allow, one may almost say neces- 
sitate, the most barefaced frauds by lumber- 
men in search of timber. Mr. Goucher, a spe- 
cial Government agent, informed me not long 
ago that between five and six thousand fraudu- 
lent land entries had been found in the single 
timbered district about Mendocino county, the 
entries being made to obtain control of the tim- 
ber. The Government is being robbed, the 
forest lands are stripped by lumbermen, de- 
stroyed by sheepmen and burned by fire with 
impunity. Only an occasional arrest without 
punishment breaks this monotony. 

This property that is being thus destroyed 
and wasted under a system that permits, and 
even invites fraud, is the people's. Such a con- 
dition of things should be brought to a prompt 
and permanent close. 

When we consider the consequences of 
unwise forest destruction and recall the deserts of 
desolation such destruction has caused we must 
be still more impressed with the necessity of a 
proper care of our forests in the interests of the 
people at large. 

To this end I would suggest that the law pro- 
viding penalties for burning forests be changed 
so that it would become an object for persons 
to bring to judgment guilty parties. 

That the Government withdraw from mar- 
ket all its timber lands, cause them to be sur- 
veyed and those found necessary for the preser- 
vation of watersheds be permanently dedicated 
to that purpose; and that none be sold unless 
over and above the proportion required accord- 
ing to present experience for the best agricul- 
tural results through climatic action. The whole 
to be managed like the forest lands of Europe: 
while giving a net return by products to be still 
maintained forever forest land, and lastly the 
abolition of the present protective tariff on lum- 
ber which not only operates to place this great 
interest in the hands of a powerful pool but 
also sets a direct premium on the destruction of 
every acre of timber land in the country. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



55 



The wooded and brush covered mountains of 
California are almost altogether worthless for ag- 
riculture, but their importance as attractors, 
holders and distributors of moisture is vital. 

The life of the springs and streams of this 
State is the life of every interest in it, and first 
of all the farmers and fruit-growers. We 
fruit-growers therefore should take energetic 
steps to secure the protection of our mountains 
upon which so much depends. 

Action by the Convention. 

Mr. H. P. Livermore stated that he desired 
to call the attention of the members of the con- 
vention to the dangers which might arise from 
the depletion of our forests, and to the neces- 
sity of their protection: that stockmen would 
frequently, to get rid of the brush, and in order 
to increase the amount of feed, start fires that 
would destroy the timber over a large area. 
Speaking of the damage from heaving floods 
caused by this general destruction of forest 
trees on the hillsides and mountains, and of- 
fered the following resolution, and asked for its 
adoption : 

Resolved, that it is the sense of the Fruit-Grovvers 
of California, in convention assembled, that special 
protective legislation should be had by our State and 
National Legislatures looking to the protection of all 
existing forests and encouraging the creation of new 
ones, for the suppression, by severe penalties, of the 
devastating influences now rapidly deforesting the 
country. 

Mr. Livermore (continuing): I have written 
this on the impulse of the moment, and I would 
only say that certainly no harm can be done by 
giving voice to such a sentiment from this body 
of representative men, and I would desire to 
offer with it the specific recommendations that 
are embodied in the essay which we have just 
listened to, and which seem to me eminently 
wise. 

The resolution offered by Mr. Livermore was 
on motion adopted. 

Thursday Afternoon's Session. 

The convention reassembled at the appointed 
hour. Dr. S. F. Chapin, in the chair, an 
nounced the topic for the hour the discussion of 
the papers read during the morning session. 

Dr. Congar, referring to the essay read by 
Mr. Kinney on forestry, said that, in his opin- 
ion, the matters there referred to were not the 
only elements that influenced the climate — the 
amount of rainfall, etc. ; that the air currents 
were also important factors to be considered, 
especially the northern currents, which he be- 
lieved were the best; that he had observed when 
at the mouth of Cajon Pass, it would be per- 
fectly calm, but when he reached the summit of 
the pass there would be a gale blowing so that 
it v;as almost impossible to get through. These 
were matters that had been but imperfectly 
understood, and which our scientists should 
look into. He said : "Now, in my judgment, 
the difference in the seasons here does not so 
much depend on forestry as upon the zone 
which we are in, as located by the meteorolog- 
ical charts. It is between the 37th and 35th 
parallel of north longitude. When the north- 
ern currents prevail they are the condensing 
currents, for they are cooler, as a rule, and 
they meet the moisture-laden currents from the 
south. We are dependent upon tliose two 
strata of atmospheric circulation for our mois- 



ture. What did we have in 1862, before there 
was any trees cut away — before there was any 
fires in the mountains or anything of the kind 
to produce this disturbance, as is suggested in 
the paper on forsstry ? We had the rain here, 
and have not had storms like it. We had two 
years ago a storm which, for this region, the 
oldest, settler claimed was almost unprece- 
dented; and we have bad no fires during the 
last five or six years. What I have to say is 
this : Are there not causes back of these little 
local eflects that have to do with the precipita- 
tion of moisture ? I believe that there are in- 
fluences that we know nothing about — in other 
words, that these periods come in cycles; no 
one scarcely knows how long. They may be 
11 or 20 or 28 years in their recurrence, but 
they will bring us the periodical dry terms or 
periodical wet seasons. Of course, I know that 
if we put straw around our trees the moisture 
will be retained much longer, as we have all 
found out who are irrigating: on the principle 
that if you expose these surfaces to the hot 
sun you dry out the surface moisture, and the 
same effect would be likely to be produced by 
cutting away our trees. 

Mr. Hatch: I believe it has been decided by 
scientific researches that the ruins of the Old 
World, and the depopulation of those 
countries where those ruins existed, have 
been principally, if not entirely, caused by the 
destruction of the trees, and in other countries, 
of later dates, similar things have been ob- 
served to a great extent. And I think that 
this convention ought to put considerable stress 
upon legislation in regard to the preservation of 
our forests, and the making of new ones in 
the localities where needed. 

Mr. Wilcox: I have studied this question 
from various standpoints since I have been in 
this State, and especially around the Bay of 
San Francisco. I once met a sea captain who 
had studied the movements of the winds and 
found that they moved in a circle, and so I no- 
ticed in Nevada county in this State. Now, in 
tne Santa Cruz mountains we have a great deal 
more rain than we have in the valley, and I 
haye noticed that the wind coming in at the 
Golden Gate followed up over those mountains 
and carried the fog with it. A year or two 
ago I investigated the subject of artesian wells, 
and found that these mountains contained 
strata, as Mr. Kinney has stated, that hold 
water. There are layers of earth that are im- 
pervious to water, and by means of these are 
formed what I call blind or underground streams 
coming from the mountains, which, no doubt, 
discharge into the Bay of San Francisco, and 
the more of them we tap the less water we get. 
Now the question arises, if these Santa Cruz 
mountains are denuded of their forests whether 
we will get the same amount of rainfall and 
what effect it will have upon these streams. 
This is a very interesting question and one 
which I believe can be profitably considered. 

Irrigating Orange Trees. 

Mr. Smith, of Santa Ana: I would like to 
say one word to elicit discussion or information 
regarding one point in Mr. Garey's paper: that 
of cultivating the orange tree, and it perhaps 
pertains to all of our trees. During the past 
few weeks I have had occasion to pass by a 
small orange orchard in the district of Orange, 
and I noticed a peculiar method being pursued 



56 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



(that is, peculiar to our section of the country), 
and I inquired of the gentleman why he was 
pursuing this method. He told me it was a 
method pursued in Pasadena, and consisted in 
making a circus ring around the tree, introduc- 
ing the water, and then mulching and not culti- 
vating around the tree, and if more moisture 
was needed, to turn in more water by a little 
channel right along the outer line of its circum- 
ference, and let the mulch prevent evaporation. 
He said that when the land is new, that is, be- 
fore it had been cultivatsd for two or three 
years, it was very loose and very porous, and 
•when they irrigated the water would in a very 
short time sink down through the soil and made 
available to the roots of the ti'ee; but that ow- 
ing to the constant stirring of the soil or 
from some other cause, the soil below 
where the cultivator strikes would be- 
come a perfect hardpan impervious 
to water. He showed me an illustration of it 
where he had irrigated some time before, where 
he could not work his land because of this im- 
pervious substratum, which was not there the 
first few years of his cultivation, and he had to 
wait until the water had evaporated sufificiently 
for him to get onto the land to cultivate it. He 
said that from experiments that he had made if 
this land can remain without constant irriga- 
tion and cultivation, but only irrigated in the 
winter with the winter rains, that the land will 
again become mellow. I would like to have that 
question discussed by those who have experi- 
mented, as to whether this constant irrigation 
and cultivation will not produce the impervious 
hardpan, so that the water will not accomplish 
the purpose for which it is put on the ground. 
Mr. Garey: You may take a piece of soil 
perfectly adapted to orange culture, and irri- 
gated continuously for a long number of years, 
say 8 or 10 or more, and in many cases a hard- 
pan is formed. It is formed, I presume, by a 
precipitation of sediment carried with the 
water, and continuously putting on this water 
in irrigating that carries the sediment, these 
heavier particles are deposited in the soil and 
added to from time to time, until a substratum 
or hardpan is formed. I remember a number 
of years ago, in old San Barnardino, I was pass- 
ing where men were at work on their orange 
trees that were quite old and very fine, but 
they had begun to die. They tried everything 
they could think of to resuscitate those trees. 
They had poured water on them, and finally 
they concluded they would dig down and see 
what was the matter with the roots, and they 
dug down about six or eight inches and 
found a hardpan, as hard as adamant almost, 
that wouldn't work, and they took a pick and 
picked this hardpan up by pieces and threw 
back the soil and the trees came out all right. 
Now I don't know exactly how this is 
formed, but I am satisfied that it is caused 
by continuous irrigation without proper 
cultivation. I know, too, that this mat- 
ter of forming a circus ring, that the 
gentleman speaks of, around the tree and 
irrigating in that, is, I think usually done 
for convenience in irrigation, and where water 
is scarce. If water is not scarce, the usual 
method is to put two or sometimes four furrows 
to the row of trees and turn the water in and 
let it flow right down. As to this little ridge 
along by the trees, it is put there for two pur- 
poses: one is to hold the water and the other is 



to prevent the water from standing around and 
striking the trunks of the trees, which has a ten- 
dency to cause the gum disease, so-called; but 
where water is scarce, they make these circles 
for the purpose of economizing water. I think, 
further, they used mulching for the purpose 
of supplying the want of cultivation to a 
certain extent, because if you irrigate your 
orchard with these circles and rings it costs a 
good deal of money to make those basins from 
6 to 10 feet in diameter, and probably the ridge 
a foot or 18 inches high around them. This 
has to be pulled up with a hoe and takes a 
great deal of labor. If you cultivate, of course 
you break these rims and the work has to be 
done over again. That you cannot afford to do, 
and hence resort to mulching. Now mulching 
is very good in its way, but there is a very se- 
rious objection to it. There is no better harbor 
or hot bed in this world to raise gophers than 
there is in these very places. You commence and 
make your basins in the spring and put on a foot 
of straw and leave it there until the fall, and I 
think, as a rule, you will find any amount of 
gopher work during the summer. Nothing is 
done to break up their holes and they accumu- 
late there and breed and it is a danger. 

Mr. Smi h : Mr. Garey has not quite 
answered my question. From what I know of 
this gentleman's procedure he bus given his 
grounds very thorough cultivation — that is, to 
the depth of three or four inches, and he claims 
that the more cultivation the harder this pan 
becomes. Now, I would like to ask how to 
make thorough cultivation and still obviate the 
forming of this almost impenetrable layer? 

Mr. Garey: I will answer it in this way. I 
think it is unprecedented that cultivation will 
form a hardpan; in fact, I am inclined to doubt 
that cultivation under any circumstances causes 
a hardpan, except in this way. It is possible, 
and I think probable, that there are implements 
that are now, and have been used to cultivate 
the ground that have teeth of a character to 
enter the surface from two to four inches, with 
a kind of scraping character, that do not seem 
to dig up and loosen the ground but very little, 
except just on the top and they scrape the 
ground underneath. This is done very many 
times in the summer in Southern California in 
cultivating an orchard, and it is possible that 
that process, continually cultivating just the 
surface for two or three inches, and this scrap- 
ing process, may pack the ground, it being wet 
and soft, until after awhile it amounts to hard- 
pan. 

How to Prevent Hardpan. 

Dr. Lotspeitch, of Orange: You may culti- 
vate ground two inches deep one season and it 
will form a hardpan. You may cultivate four 
inches deep and it will form a hardpan. You 
will cultivate four inches deep and irrigate it, 
and whenever you cultivate it down to that 
depth it forms, in six months' cultivation, about 
two inches of a hardpan. That is what it will 
form. Why? Because you can't go down 
every time a little deeper and a little deeper; if 
you did you would be plowing up China di- 
rectly. But we commence and we cultivate 
four inches deep for a whole season, irrigating 
by the best possible means, and the rains come 
again and there is a hardpan. The remedy for 
that is to plow a little deeper than you have 
cultivated, in the fall of the year when the 
rains come and you have no hardpan to begin 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



57 



next season with. But the constant process of 
irrigating and cultivating just a certain depth 
for a series of years would produce a hardpan 
that would be impervious, and therefore the 
trees would have to die in a short time; but if 
you will cultivate it two inches deep, three 
inches deep or four inches deep for six mouths, 
and in the fall of the year when the first rains 
come, plow that hardpan up and let it lie, you 
commence upon the primitive condition of the 
soil, and every man that cultivates and makes 
a success in orange culture will have to do that. 

Mr. Hatch: That is very similar to what I 
would have said had I spoken first; but I would 
add to it that it is not confined to lands that 
are irrigated that this condition exists, but in 
all lands in our State. Now it is immaterial 
what causes this hardpan. The fact is it exists, 
and that condition of things must be removed 
to make our lands valuable to us in the produc- 
tion of anything, whether it be grain or fruit. 

Mr. Wilcox: In relation to this matter I 
liave, after considerable cultivation, found a 
hardpan formed underneath. This was adobe 
soil, east side of the bay of San Francisco. I 
have irrigated since then and I do not fiad any 
difference between irrigated and unirrigated 
lands in this respect. 

Mr. Loop, of Pomona: In connection with 
this subject of irrigation I will give you an item 
of my experience. I have an orange orchard on 
grdvelly loam that I planted 11 years ago. 
After about the second or third year I found 
there was a hardpan formed underneath, just 
at the bottom of our cultivation, and I found it 
necessary to use a sub-soil plow after the rains 
set in and break that up, and unless I do that 
every other year I find there is a hardpan 
formed, and, unless it is broken up, it seriously 
effects the roots of the trees. 

Varieties of Fruit. 

Discussion then turned upon the best varie- 
ties of the different kinds of fruits to meet the 
wants of consumers in the different seasons. 

Dr. Lotspeitch: I am not a deciduous fruit 
cultivator. My opinion, from practical experi- 
ence, is that the best orange is the Rio. My 
reasons are these: The Rio ripens and hangs 
on the tree as well as any other orange we can 
get. It is a thin skinned orange; it is 
a fuU-meated orange; it is sweet and 
juicy. Then again, it makes a fine standard 
tree. The fruit is not any better than the 
Mediterranean Sweet — not a particle; but the 
tree of the latter is not as good as the Rio tree. 
Therefore, I say, to. have a fine, nice tree you 
can plant the Rio and have equally as fine 
fruit. I find in the Eastern markets they can't 
tell the difference between the Mediterranejan 
Sweet and the Rio, but they will say the Med- 
iterranean Sweet, because the name has a great 
deal to do with it; often the name sells it. 
Again, the Rio is just as prolific as the Med- 
iterranean Sweet, and the fruit hangs on the 
tree just as tenaciously. The Navel is a finer 
looking orange. It will sell for a better price 
in the market when it gets there, but when you 
commence to count up the number of boxes of 
the two I have first mentioned, in March and 
April, iind compare it with the number of 
boxes you can get off the Navel tree in March 
or April, May or June, and you will fiud the 
predominance is in favor of the Mediterranean 
or the Rio orange. Still, the Navel will sell 



for more than either of the others in the mar- 
ket, from the fact of its lusciousness and its 
large size, but still it does not have a sufficient 
amount on the tree in the shipping season to 
justify us in raising it. I and my brother have 
13 varieties on our place. We have made a 
success in shipping our oranges East. It only 
requires care and attention to put your fruit in 
the Eastern market at a profit. Two years ago 
we sold our oranges at ^2 25 net on the tree; 
year before last we got .$3 on the tree, and this 
year $1.18 on the tree; that is net, and we 
shipped them East and disposed of them our- 
selves, and we found, as I say to this audience, 
that the Rio has the preference of all our trees 
that we have planted out. 

Mr. Garey: I am very much gratified to 
hear the doctor speak upon this subject in the 
manner that he does: I have the honor of be- 
ing the individual that introduc<>d the Medit- 
erranean Sweet, and I am glad to hear it spoken 
of so highly. As I said in my essay, if I were 
planting an orchard, I would divide it and put 
part of it into Mediterranean Sweet and part of 
it Washington Navel, for the reason that the 
latter is an early orange, and the Mediterranean 
Sweet is a late orange, so you would have 
double the time to market your fruit. I would 
like to know where the Rio can be obtained. 

Dr. Lotspeitch: I am not a nurseryman, and 
I am unable to answer the question. As to 
planting varietie?, so as to have them ripen at 
different times, I say we don't want to market 
fruit at all till the last of March, and a Medit- 
erranean or Rio will stick on the tree until the 
first of July and much better than the Navel — 
we can put them into the market for three 
months, and I think that is long enough for 
any man to market his fruit. I never plant a 
Washington Navel from the very fact that you 
have to market that fruit early or you would 
realize nothing from it, as was proven last 
wiuter in shipping fruit early to the Eastern 
market. We did not realize any profits from it . 

Dr. Chubb: I believe that the fruit business 
is a growing industry, and we are all interested 
to know just now in this part of the State what 
trees to plant, not what special varieties of 
orange or apple, but in planting out new 
ground, shall we plant oranges at all or peaches, 
or shall we plant apricots, or prunes, or olives, 
or figs? And in this connection I would like 
very much to have the discussion for a few 
minutes take the shape of giving us information 
from the northern part of the State as to what 
they consider the future profitable branch of 
deciduous fruit culture. Very many of ouv 
people are partially disgusted with the orange 
business on account of the difficulties attending 
it, and are looking to prunes or olives or figs, 
in some localities, and we would like to know 
how to advise newcomers in the southern part 
of the State, who are inclined to plant out these 
varieties of deciduous fruits with a view to 
future marketable crops. 

Mr. Hatch : We of the North have been 
considering somewhat the varieties that we be- 
lieve the most profitable for propagation in the 
future, and from evidences coming to us from 
the sale of different products in the Eastern 
markets, have arrived at the conclusion that 
fine varieties of tible grapes can hardly be pro- 
duced in too large quantities. There is nothing 
probably so much desired, and in other lines 
than that we find that probably we have enough 



58 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



pears for the present, and we have probably 
raisins enough for the present. By the time 
those that are now planted come into bearing 
they will supply the demands of our people, 
but we think that olives, in land that is adapted 
to them, the nuts of California, in laud that is 
adapted to them, and the fig, are promising. 
It is a very opportune time in the history of 
California to consider that in the pnst we have 
had no fig that we could be proud of to submit 
to the markets of the East. I see here to day 
a box of figs whicli I consider indicates the pos- 
sibility of an addition to the fruit industry of 
California which will prove immense in its pro- 
portions. When planted in the proper place, 
properly cared for, packed and delivered to the 
Eastern fruit-eating public, I believe will be 
a large revenue from California figs. 

Mr. W. H. Aiken: The question that has 
been asked is very important, and, indeed from 
the northern part of the State we also ask that 
question. Every one of us probably has been 
more or less troubled to know just what to 
plant. Generally the question can be answered 
by saying, Plant what you can raise best in your 
locality. If our people would first find out 
what the soil that they are living on is best 
adapted to, what the climate where they are 
living is best adapted to, they could then plant 
what would do best, and, in that way, would 
make the most money. That takes some time 
to learn. A ne'wcomer going into a certain lo- 
cality should make a great effort to ascertain 
from his neighbors, who are living in the same 
locality, what does succeed best and what will 
sell for the most money. Since this Eastern 
shipping question has come up, it can be 
answered farther, that we had better plant ship- 
ping fruits and shipping grapes, for the reason 
that most any table grape may be dried, although 
it may not inake a good raisin; so with the 
fruits. When the question is asked what will 
ship East profitably and safely it must be a 
large, firm, well-developed, well-appearing 
fruit. You can take the peach, for instauce, 
when it is raised at an elevation upon some of 
our low mountains or foothills. In our 
section, the Santa Cruz mountains, which 
is about 1500 feet above the sea, we can raise a 
peach that will go to Liverpool and arrive in 
good condition, as we have demonstrated re 
peatedly, while probably the same variety of 
peach grown ten miles away would not do any 
more than reach Chicago; and possibly would 
not go 100 miles and arrive in San Francisco in 
good condition. So I would say, you must 
raise that which is adapted to your soil and 
your climate. I asked a gentleman from Chi- 
cago the other evening how much grapes and 
other fruit the city of Chicsgo and State of 
Illinois would take, if we could place it there 
as low even as five cents a pound. He said lie 
did rot think that the State now produced 
enough fruit to supply that city and State 
ajone. I believe in that statement and that we 
can place fruits and grapes in Chicago at five 
cents a pound and clear to the producer one- 
half of that amount. Fruits g-own in the dry air 
and mild climate of California will stand a long 
shipment to the East, while fruits raised in 
Oregon and any place where the rains are fre 
quent and heavy will not ship. We will never 
find a competitor in Oregon or Texas, or many 
other States, because of this tact. 

Our apricots were considered by us utterly 



worthless, and little attention was paid to them 
until Judge Blackwood, of Haywards, had a 
little orchard that proved a bonanza for him, 
and from that little starter he said he believed 
he had ruined the State, by demonstrating that 
there was great profit in apricots, for everybody 
went to planting them north, south, east and 
west. Then followed the French prune, a very 
valuable fruit, but I believe there are only a 
very few places in the State adapted to the 
French prune. It needs a very rich soil, with 
climatic conditions likely to cause a successful 
growth of the tree. I repeat the general propo- 
sition, to first ascertain what your particular 
locality is best adapted to and stick to that one 
thing. Do not have a large number of varie- 
ties of fruit, for one may do well, and ano her 
not; but have large blocks of available fruit, so 
that if this shipping interest succeeds, the fruit 
will ship successfully and bring Eastern money 
here for it. 

Mr. SiiUee: We are happy to say to the emi- 
grant w ho is coming to this country now, that 
it is no longer an experiment, as it was with the 
fruit growers who came here 10 or 12 years ago, 
as to where you shall plant certain varieties of 
trees, and as to what kinds will be the best for 
shipping. The prospect is that we can plant 
shipping fruits and depend upon shipping them 
with advantage and success, that we can tell the 
newcomer to plant in the rich damp soils of the 
lowlands, the pear, the apple and the quince, 
and upon the higher, drier, rich alluvial soils, 
the peach, the pear, the prune and the apricot. 
The orange we can say to them to plant upon 
the rich deep alluvial soils from the Sierra 
Madre mountains ; the granite and the lime- 
stone, supplied with abundance of water to irri- 
gate with. We are happy to say to the people 
of the North that we appreciate fully the im- 
portance of the deciduous fruit culture, and we 
know and appreciate where our advantage is in 
raising them, and we do see the advantages in 
this class of fruit in shipping them to the East, 
and though we can give many of these points to 
the newcomer, an experienced horticulturist who 
has been here 10 or 12 years will give you all 
the advice you want. 

A Delegate : When I started on my place 
I had a range of a few acres in extent and 
wanted to know what to plant, and the answer 
was as Mr. Aiken has given — plant that which 
does best in your neighborhood, in your variety 
of soil. Well, I could not find out what did 
best, and although I knew that it was unwise 
in a certain point of view to put a small place 
into a half a dozen different varieties, still I 
felt compelled to do it, even if I had to take 
out five of the varieties in the future. I 
thought I would make some sacrifice to find a 
solution of this question, but I have not found 
a solution from this fact: I put in certain por- 
tions to apricots, pears, Muscat grapes, wal- 
nuts, and a few apples, peaches, olives and figs. 
The result is that this last season, only two 
years last spring from the setting out of the 
trees and vines, I had a phenomenal yield, 
both as to quantity and quality of apricots. 
The walnut trees are not large enough nor old 
enough to bear, but the sample taken of the 
walnuts from the four-year-old trees from the 
Santa Ana table exhibit were grown adjoining 
my place and my trees give the promise of 
doing equally well. The pears were all Bart- 
lett pears excepting a few Winter Nelis, and 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



59- 



were equal in quantity and quality to anything 
I ever saw or heard of for their age. The 
Muscat vines yielded the raisins you see on the 
table, and there were eight tons to the acre. 
Now, I don't know what is the best variety of 
fruit to plant, because I dont know which is 
going to bring in the most money. That is v/hy 
we wish the question answered by the people 
of the North, so that we in the southern part 
of the Scate can know what, according to their 
experience, is most likely in the future to bring 
us the greatest returns, provided we can raise 
all these different things equally well. 

Mr. Aiken requested that Mr. Smith, of 
"Vacaville, give the convention his experience 
and ideas as to wha- to plant. 

W. W. Smith, of Vacaville: Mr. President, 
Ladies and Gentlemen — I would tell you plainly 
ii I could what kind of fruit to plant to make 
the most money out of, for that is the question 
now before the people of this State. It is the 
all-absorbing question north, south, east and 
west. We have made more money out of our 
cherries than any other fruit. That won't do 
you much good, for several have told me here 
that you can't raise cherries, in some parts, at 
least, of this section of the State. Next, we 
make more money out of what we call shipping 
grapes — the Muscat of Alexandria, the Flaming 
Tokay, the Rose of Peru, the Chasselas, and 
one or two other varieties. Any of the light- 
colored grapes that are firm and ship well are 
good fruit to ship to an Eastern market to 
make money out of. Next, we ship a good 
many apricots East. The largest part of the 
crop of apricots of Solano county are shipped 
to the Eastern States this year. We have but 
few pears yet that have shipped well. We 
shipped a great many peaches this year to the 
Eastern market. A large proportion of my 
peach crop was shipped to Chicago. Parties 
came to my orchard and bought them. The 
varieties of peach that ship best are the Early 
Crawford, Foster, Orange Cling, known with us 
as the Sacramento River Orange Cling, and Sol- 
way. Any good sized, yellow fleshed peach is 
in demand in the Eastt-rn market. The yellow 
freestone peach is more sought for than any 
other kind; however, a good, yellow clingstone 
peach sells well. It is not for me to tell you 
here what kind of soil to plant these kinds of 
fruit on. That has already been stated plainly 
by several gentlemen. If I were going to start 
a new orchard anywhere in the vicinity of San 
Francisco, I would hunt a location where the 
apple does well, and plant largely of Winter 
apples. My humble judgment is, there is more 
money in a go<'d apple orchard to- day, within 
150 or 200 miles of San Francisco, than any 
other fruit you can plant. But the orchard 
must be in a locality where the apple does well, 
I spent the months of August and September 
in the Eastern States investigating this fruit 
matter, as I intended to ship my own fruit on 
my own responsibility, and my conviction is 
that we shall have enough growing, when our 
fruit trees come into bearing, to supply the 
Eastern markets with deciduous fruits, and 
citrus fruits also. If Congress would impose 
an import duty of about two and a half cents a 
pound on raisins, the raisin business would be 
one of the best businesses in this State, and I 
would get a suitable piece of land for raising 
raisins, and go into that business. But as it is, 
we cannot make money by raising raisins in 



California in competition with the cheap labor 
of Europe. It is out of the question. They 
can hire help at 20 or 25 cents a day, and we 
have to pay from $1 to $1.75. That is too high 
to pay labor to raise raisins or prunes, either, 
but were there this import duty on raisins, and 
say 50 cents a box on prunes, it would make 
either a profitable crop. 

You may say I have not yet answered our 
question. What fruit we shall plant to make 
the most money from? If I knew how to answer 
that question I would certainly answer it for 
myself, and go home and go to planting that 
fruit, and so would every one of you. The 
nearest I can come to it is to plant the fruit 
that grows best in your locality. You will be 
very likely to find a market for it if you take 
pains to raise choice fruit. Do not let your 
trees overbear; thin them thoroughly while the 
fruit is young; prune them correctly; cultivate 
your trees, or your vines as the case may be, 
thoroughly; gather your fruit in the proper 
time; put it up in the proper shape; handle it 
carefully; put it into the hand's of the right 
kind of men — the California Fruit Union — and 
ship it East, and you will be very apt to make 
some money out of it. 

I will tell you something about the quantity 
of cherries I ship: I shipped to market 20,000 
ten-pound boxes of cherries this season, and I 
paid W. F. & Co., or the C. P. R. R. Co. over 
$2,500 to take that fruit from Vacaville to the 
San Francisco market, some 75 miles. My ex- 
perience in shipping cherries to the Eastern 
market on my own responsibility has not been 
favorable. A gentleman from the city of San 
Francisco came to my place and bought some- 
thing over two tons of cherries and shipped 
them to the Eastern market, to Chicago, St. 
Paul, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, 
Denver, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cin- 
cinnati, and I think to Cleveland, Ohio. He 
did not make a success of it, but I was satisfied 
at the time that he would not make a success 
from the fact that he did not pack his cherries 
in the proper shape to go that distance. He 
was like many, a little too greedy. The con- 
tract was that I was to pick the cherries for 
him and under his direction he would send a 
man to my house to superintend the packing or 
boxing of those cherries, and he insisted on fill- 
ing the boxes too full. He used t ;e common 
strawberry box, which, as you know, is a little 
box about two inches deep, eight inches wide 
and sixteen inches long. I insisted on it at the 
time that it was not the proper box to ship 
cherries East in, but that was what he used 
and he had his man superintending the packing 
of them, and he filled them too full, so that in 
nailing on the cover there was scarcely a box 
but what the cherries were bruised before they 
left the packing house, and of course they 
could not go a six or eight day journey in good 
order. If I were going to ship cherries East, I 
would use a box about the size of the straw- 
berry box, one-third wider, and have the ends 
higher than the sides, and fill the box about 
even full with the sides, and tack a piece of 
blotting paper across on the ends, leaving a 
space between the cherries and the paper, and 
I would nail the top on to that so there would 
be a space between the fruih and the paper, and 
a space between the top and the paper. I am 
satisfied that I can ship cherries from here to 
New York city, and they will arrive there in 



6o 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



good order, some varieties in particular, the 
black Tartarian, the Royal Ann or Napoleon 
Bigareau and the Great Bigareau: any of those 
will go to New York city in that way. 

Mr. Chapin; What space would there be be- 
tween the c erries and the paper ? 

Mr. Smith: I would leave about oneh-?!! 
inch between the paper and the cherries. The 
blotting paper would take up the moisture aris- 
ing from the cherries and would keep them dry 
and firm, and if the package should happen to be 
packed upside down, the cherries would not 
bruise as they would if they fell against the 
cover of the box itself. If the blotting paper 
would cost too much, I would use a very thick 
heavy wrapping paper, such as is used in wrap- 
ping hardware, which would answer about the 
same purpose, though I do not think it would be 
as good as the blotting paper. 

RAISINS. 

Mr. Bettner: I want to say a few words in 
reply to the Remarks of Mr. Smith about raisins 
which, as I understood was, that if we had a 
duty of 2h cents on raisins it would be one of 
the most profitable of industries, and he would 
go into it. We have a duty of two cents a 
pound on raisins. 

Mr. Smith: I meaiit was an additional tax 
of 2^ cents a pound. 

Mr. Bettner: As a matter of fact we do com- 
pete very well now with the raisin-makers of 
Europe, although we would like to have the 
ex.ra duty. The raisin business at present is a 
profitable industry in the southern part of the 
State and promises to be. All he raisin grapes 
in Southern California that were sold this year 
were sold at an average price to exceed $20 per 
ton, and the men who bought them are making 
money in curing and packing them at those 
prices, although they have some considerable 
risk to run, and I need not tell you that selling 
grapes at $20 a ton you can make money out of 
a raisin vineyard in a suitable locality. In 
Southern California there have been instances 
where vineyards have yielded 17 tons of grapes 
to the acre ; that is an excessive yield, but an 
average of from five to eight tons is quite fre- 
quent, and rhere is no trouble in making a profit 
on that. There are several reasons why we can 
compete with the Malaga growers although 
they have so very much cheaper labor. First 
of all the average yield in Malaga is nothing 
like so heavy as it is in California. Then again 
the American understands how to save in labor 
appliances, and we have appliances for turning 
and handling our raisins which they do not, so 
that although their labor is so much cheaper I 
venture to say that it costs them not so far 
from what it costs us, and that I can state to this 
convention that the rai>in business is a profit- 
able business to-day in Southern California, and, 
so far as indications point, is going to be for 
years to come. 

Mr. Rice : The Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society published a report that is tabulated 
from information received from all the princi- 
pal fruit growers of that section of the country, 
giving the best varieties of all the different 
iruits grown — giving say the five first best va- 
rieties and the five second-best varieties in each 
line. I would like to ask of our State Horti- 
cultural Board if it is possible for them to com- 
pile such a statement. 



Mr. Hatch called for Mr. Sol. Runyon, of 
Courtland, Sacramento Co. 

Mr. Runyon : I did not come here for the 
purpose of making speeches, but that I might 
look around and see what was being accom- 
plished in this locality. As regards the varieties 
of fruit best adapted for shipping purposes, I 
can only say what in our section of country we 
make the most money from. We are shipping 
East from my neighborhood pears, peaches, 
plums and prunes mostly. The Bartiett is the 
leading pear; the Seckel comes next. Other 
varieties do not succeed; they are too early, 
while at other places not a hundred miles from 
there they do succeed. On our peaches, plums 
and prunes of different varieties the Sacra- 
mento river can hardly be beat in this State, 
and the varieties best adapted to shipping from 
our section are the yellow-fleshed peach, the 
different varieties of the Crawford, the Yellow 
Cling, the Lawler. As to prunes, we ship 
what is termed the Hungarian prune and the 
German prune. 

Mr. Wilcox: At New Orleans our fruit was 
superior to that brought from any part of the 
world. There is not an apple grown east of the 
Rocky mountains that compares in size, or that 
is as clean and large as your White Winter Par- 
mains. There is hardly a variety of apples 
grown here that they recognize as a specimen 
of the same variety grown in the East. When 
Marshall P. Wilder, who has been president of 
the American Pomological Society from Boston 
visited our oldest orchard, from which, prob- 
ably, the first I'ruit was shipped East, now 
owned by Mr. Block of Santa Clara, he and his 
companions examined the fruit, and did not 
know it, could not place a name on it, and it 
was grown on trees that some of the party had 
shipped to this State. As to going to Massa- 
chusetts to find out the best fruits to raise, that 
is impracticable. We could not afford to do 
it. What we want is the best fruit we can raise 
in our locality. Here we have the best decidu- 
ous fruits raised probably in the world. Most 
of our pears originated in France; but the 
French table in New Orleans did not compare 
with the California table. There were men 
from Massachusetts at New Orleans who 
claimed to know that we did not raise a good 
apple. I took a Rhode Island Greening and 
asked them if they could tell the variety. They 
did not know it, and it was not as clean and 
large as some which are on exhibition here. So 
far as our locality is concerned I would not try 
to hunt anything better if I had a good location 
for the White Muscat grapes, but I have not. 
I must raise such kind of products as my soil 
is adapted to. Near my place there are pear 
trees a hundred years old. I am going to raise 
pears. A heavy adobe soil where water comes 
close to the surface seems to suit them. I had 
24 acres of blackberries that I am going to plow 
up, and I am going to raise prunes on that heavy 
land, I have an idea they will do well. 

Nomenclature. 

Prof. Husmann: I think I can offer some 
suggestions as to a matter that will benefit us 
all, and which every fruit-grower in the State 
should consider; that is, to bring some sort of 
order into the almost inextricable confusion 
into which fruit culture has grown. That is a 
qilestion of names of varieties of names. This 
is clearly shown by the exhibits here both of 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



6l 



apples and pears, which are improperly labeled. 
How can you tell a man what he is to plant, 
when he does not know whether he gets that 
variety or not? We want a competent commit- 
tee in each district of this State, working to- 
gether, reporting to the State Horticultural 
Society, to try to bring some order out of the 
confusion. I wish to make a motion that a 
committee be appointed here to take into con- 
sideration the nomenclature of the fruits of this 
State, and try to bring some order into it, and 
to report to the State Board of Horticulture, at 
San Francisco. 

Mr. Shiun: The matter of nomenclature is 
exceedingly important, but to accomplish the 
great object is a herculean task, and I would 
not like to be on such a committee. I believe 
if the committee were appointed to report at 
the next meeting of the State Board, it would 
do some good; but it would be years and years 
before it could be fully accomplished. If the 
committee is appointed, I hope it will be a gen- 
eral committee from different parts of the 
State, large enough to have a member in each 
locality, who will be wide awake at all exhibi- 
tions of the fruit interests of the different sec- 
tions, making comments upon it and reporting 
at the dififereut meetings and to the Board of 
Horticulture. 

Dr. Chapin: This subject is one of vast im- 
portance, and of vast proportions as well. I 
feel that I am safe in saying that there is not a 
fruit-grower in this State that can go around 
this exhibit in this room and name every ex- 
hibit accurately. I know for one I would find 
it utterly impossible to name the fruits that are 
here exhibited. The fact is that in different 
localities of the State conditions prevail that 
are so widely different that the same fruit 
which has peculiar characteristics in one local- 
ity has entirely different characteristics in an- 
other locality. The White Winter Pearmain 
apple as seen here and grown in Southern Cali- 
fornia would hardly be recognized as the White 
Winter Pearmain of the northern part of the 
State. It is much the same with other apples 
that I might mention here. I have heard some 
of the most eminent pomologists of the coast in 
dispute about the names of certain apples that 
are on the plates in this hall to-day. I believe 
that this committee should be selected with tne 
greatest care, and should have the most ample 
time in which to work in the most thorough 
and complete manner, in order to accomplish 
these most important objects. 

Mr. Garey: This is a great task, but if we 
do not start about it we will never make any 
progress. It would probably be a whole year 
before a committee of this kind can make an 
intelligible report. I think it should be started 
in some way, and that very soon. I move that 
the State Board of Horticulture be requested 
by this convention to appoint a committee of 
five to be known as a "committee on nomen- 
clature" of the fruits of this State, 

Prof. Husmann : In connection with this 
■ motion I will state here that Commissioner 
Colman, of the Department of Agriculture, has 
taken one very important step in that direction 
already by appointing a special horticulturist — 
an office that never existed before— in the per- 
son of Prof. Bandman, of Geneva, Kansas, one 
of the most prominent horticulturists in the 
country, and he will do all he can to aid this 
committee, as he will visit us next summer. 



Mr. T. J. Berry : I have been engaged in 
raising fruit since 1856, in the State of Illinois 
and State of Mississippi and State of Oregon 
and State of California, and also have been 
some time engaged in handling fruit in New 
Orleans. I have always been a close observer 
of these matters, and found that certain varie- 
ties of fruit assumed different characters as 
they came from different localities. I can 
speak particularly of the Bartlett pear, as, for 
instance, grown in Mississippi, in the vicinity 
of Grand Gulf, and placed on a plate with one 
grown in Ohio. They rarely present the same 
form, nor have the same flavor, the same 
luciousness or the same general appearance, yet 
they were propagated, to my certain knowl- 
edge, from the same identical growth. Now, 
the Bartlett pear of New York is entirely dif- 
ferent from the Bartlett pear of the West. 
The Bartlett pear of California is entirely differ- 
ent from the Bartlett pear of the East, and 
just as this gentleman says who has this or- 
chard at Vacaville, Mr. Smith, the reason why 
the Bartlett pear there is so profitable is that 
it is an early fruit. You do not want to raise 
fruit for size. Consumers are often more 
numerous for small than for large fruit, and 
you want to raise the fruit that will sell the 
best, and when you come to name your fruit it 
will be necessary to raise it for the particular 
locality in which they grow. The White 
Winter pear grown here is finer than any other 
portion of the State; plums grown in Sacramento 
and Santa Clara county are the finest. In Los 
Angeles counties the grapes are the finest I ever 
saw, and I handle a great quantity of grapes. 
How, then, is the mere name to satisfy the man 
who wants just such a quality of grape? How 
are you going to classify them to satisfy him ? 

Mr. Hatch: I would like to correct one lit- 
tle mistake. It is this: The Vacaville county 
does not produce the earliest Bartl'ett pears, 
where it does produce the early cherries. 

What Fru.it to Plant. 
Mr. Smith: I would like to call your atten- 
tion again, to a question that has been asked so 
often: What is the best fruit for us to plant 
to make money out of? The best answer, I be- 
lieve, that any gentleman in the State can give 
is: "Plant that that does best in your lo- 
cality." The reason for it is this: Our cli- 
mate, our soil and other circumstances are so 
different and so variable that no definite rule 
can be given on that point; consequently, ob- 
serve what does well in your own locality and 
on your own soil. There ought to be between 
every man's mind and his own soil a well regu- 
lated communication or understanding. He 
should know the soil of hie own farm; then it is 
not a hard matter for him to determine what to 
plant in his own soil that will succeed. If you 
plant what is best adapted to your own locality 
and your own soil and take good care of that, 
you will not miss it. The motion of Mr. Hus- 
mann was carried, and the convention adjourned 
until 7:30 P. M. 

Discussion on Fig Growing. 

The convention reassembled at 7:30, W. M. 
Boggs in the chair. The discussion of the cul- 
ture of the fig was declared in order, 

Mr. Milco: A year ago at the meeting in 
San Francisco I presented before the convention 
a White Adriatic fig, in not only the green and 



62 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



ripe state, but also dried. I did it so that the 
public and fruit-growers might judge of the 
quality of the fig. Now, of course, it has been 
the custom of nurserymen, and I am one of 
them, to recommend different trees and differ- 
ent qualities of fruit before you see the fruit, 
but my idea is, that if anybody has a new thing 
he should show the fruit, so that people could 
see the quality of it, and so on. Now I will be 
glad to answer any questions about this fig, be- 
cause I was the one who introduced it and 
brought it before the public. I gave it that 
name because there have been a great many figs 
that are called Smyrna figs, and in order to dis- 
tinguish this from any other fig I named it the 
White Adriatic, simply because I was born by 
the Adriatic sea in Dalmatia, and that fig orig- 
inally came from Dalmatia. I hope that the 
people of Southern California will try it. I 
wouldn't recommend anyone to buy 1000 or 
10 000 trees. My advice is to try a few 
trees and see what they will do, and, in 
a couple of years after you plant 
those trees if you find they do well you can 
propagate your own trees until you can't rest. 
I believe the White Adriatic is the only fig you 
can grow with profit, to dry, in California; and 
you can ship them. If we should happen to be 
successful in sending our fruit East through the 
Fruit Union, my opinion is that the White 
Adriatic can be landed in the ripe state for 
table purposes in New York City without any 
trouble, and if we can show such a fig as that 
in New York City, I will assure you that we 
shall be able to realize good profits from them. 
Mr. Hixson tells me last summer he received a 
few figs and they brought fancy prices in Chi- 
cago. There is no fruit so easily cultivated 
and taken care of as the fig; for the fig will 
grow anywhere. 

A Delegate: Will it do well on comparatively 
dry land, with the surface water 60 feet from 
the surface, without irrigation? 

Mr. Milco: I think it will if you start 
it for the first year or two. In my coun- 
try it is never irrigated. Such a thing as irri- 
gation is not known, and figs do finely. 

Mr. Loop: I will ask if this is the variety 
known as the fig of Genoa? 

Mr. Milco: I can't tell. I never was in 
Genoa. 

Mr. Loop: There is a fig cultivated in 
Riverside which they call the Genoa, which 
was larger than any variety of white fig which 
I have ever seen in other countries, and as near 
as I can remember the fig at Riverside was 
really richer than the one we ate in Genoa. 

Mr. Milco: Dr. Eisen has written a letter 
to the Rural Press, wherein he stated that 
this White Adriatic was introduced from Italy, 
which was not the case, and he also spoke 
about the White Genoa fig, which he also rec- 
ommended. I in return wrote an article con- 
cerning the State Fair and invited anybody 
who had the White Genoa to send it along, so 
that we could examine it. As I said before, 
people nowadays are not going to believe any- 
thing until they see it, and I advise in the fu- 
ture any man that wants to grow anything in 
the way of fruit trees, not to buy anything un- 
til he sees it, and then he will be apt to get 
something that he wants. There are several 
characteristics about that fig that I wish to 
state. One is, that if you give the White 
Adriatic fig too much water, the figs will 



burst on the tree before they are ready to 
be picked, and some of them will actually rot 
on the tree. Too much water won't do. You 
can regulate that. Still, they want some 
water in countries where it is dry, and my 
opinion is that generally in Southern Califor- 
nia you will have no trouble to grow the fig any 
more than you will the orange or anything 
else, and it will pay you more than anything 
you have ever grown. 

A Delegate: An orange tree, is the most 
troublesome tree to grow there is. 

Mr. Milco: Where I come from we have 
ripe oranges and lemons all the year around, 
and we never water them. 

A Delegate: Do you have summer rains? 
Mr. Milco: Once in a while we have, but 
not to speak of. I don't think we have as much 
rain in that country as you have here. It is 
similar to Los Angeles and not far from the 
coast, and you can pick ripe oranges there all 
theyear around, and lemons also; but this White 
Adriatic fig particularly, I know, is adapted to 
California, because we have tested it fully in 
the San Joaquin valley and know what it can 
do, and I can not see any reason why it will not 
do well here. 

Mr. Sallee: In summer the excessive heat 
caused almost the entire crop in the valley to 
rot and drop off the tree; was that the case with 
this fig. 

Mr. Milco: I have never noticed this fig lose 
its fruit at all, but of course in a case of extreme 
heat that may happen to any fruit tree. We 
have had it 115° in the shade this sumfner, and 
105° to 110° at midnight. We irrigated our 
trees about twice a year, in the spring of the 
year after the rains were over, and then again 
about the middle of July; not flooding them, 
mind you, but just running water alongside in 
ditches so that the ground could be soaked. 

A Delegate: Does the tree bear two crops or 
only one ? 

Mr. Milco: They ripen about the 15th of 
August and continue to ripen up to this time 
almost one crop continually. 

A Delegate: How is it if they produce but 
one crop that they commence ripening so early 
and continue so many months ? 

Mr. Milco: That is something peculiar 
about the White Adriatic. I suppose I have 
now five or six varieties of new figs that I have 
imported from Europe, of which the first crop 
will be very valuable and the second no ac- 
count at all. The reason I make a distinction 
between the first and second crop is that there 
is a lapse of a month or six weeks during which 
you cannot pick any figs at all; with the 
White Adriatic from the time it begins to ripen 
you can go every day and pick a certain 
amount of fruit right along, until the winter 
and frost overtake the last fruit. 

Mr. Hatch: I would like to ask if this crop 
you speak of is not in all respects similar to the 
second crop on our black figs. 
Mr. Milco: Very much. 
Mr. Hatch: The only difference being this: 
that we have two crops on our black figs by 
getting a small first crop on the wood formed 
the season before, while the second crop all 
comes on the wood of the season in which it is 
borne, and continues to come as long as those 
branches continue to grow. 

Mr. Milco: That is what I desire to ex- 
plain. On the White Adriatic the young figs 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



are grown entirely on the wood that is grown 
this summer. You will never find a fig of that 
sort on the old wood at all. 

Mr. Sallee: In an orchard that I had charge 
of this year are two kinds of black figs; one 
dropped off the tree when it got ripe, the other 
a smaller fig which hung on to the tree and 
dried. The skin Mas very soft, and smooth 
and thin, and the fig was very rich and sweet. 
I would like to know the variety of it. 

Mr. Milco: Theve are two varieties of the 
Ischia fig: one large and one small; the circum- 
ference of that is scarcely larger than a 25cent 
piece. Is that about the size of your fig? 
Mr, Sallee : A little larger probably. 
Mr. Milco : I think it is, as near as I can 
remember that fig. It is not worth growing 
unless you want to grow them for shade trees, 
because if you have ever so many figs of that 
kind it would not pay you to market them. It 
is something like growing Flemish Beauty 
pears when you can just as well grow Bartletts. 
Mr. Loop : I would like to know if you are 
familiar with the fig known as the Brown 
Ischia, a fig we have got, I think, from Mr. 
Garey — one of the largest figs we grow. 

Mr. Garey : I think the fig Mr. Loop speaks 
of, the Brown Ischia, is one of the finest figs 
we have — one of the most prolific and early 
bearing. It sometimes bears the first year: 
certainly bears the second year from the cut- 
ting, and is very fine, but you can't dry it: it 
is too full of juice. 

Mr. Milco: There has been quite an inquiry 
made for this San Pedro fig. Some 12 or 1,3 
years ago I imported a lot of those figs and sold 
them, and of course some of those figs have 
been scattered all around, and this year for the 
first time I have seen the fruit from any partic- 
ular tree that came from my stand; at least 
the man claims that it is one of those trees. The 
fruit don't look like the San Pedro at all. For 
that reason, I say, don't pay any attention in 
the future to the San Pedro until you can see 
the fruit. We have had several varieties for 
three years in the nursery, set out far enough 
apart so as to see the fruit, and, to our surprise, 
the fruit is falling off, and we can't say now 
what they are. Of course I know where they 
came from. My own father sent them to me 
ani I knew the trees before they sent them, but 
I don't want anybody to take those trees or 
have any confidence in them until we show them 
the fruit as we do the White Adriatic, 
Mr. Sallee: Tell us something about 

Drying the Fig. 
Mr, Milco: I will confine myself to the 
White Adriatic and the Black California. 
The Black California, if properly dried, is not 
a poor fig by any means. If well dried it will 
be almost as soft and fine tasting as our best 
Adriatic. Still, being black, there is some- 
thing against it. Do not allow your figs to dry 
on the tree. Do not pick them off the ground, 
as some people do, but as soon as your figs are 
dead ripe, so they are quite soft and you see 
white seams on them, and the fig commences to 
wilt a little, then pick it carefully. Pick it by 
the stem; do not pull it off. There is no neces- 
sity of cutting it with a knife; pinch it off and 
lay it in a basket and then spread it on basket- 
work trays. Where I come from they have 
them made for that purpose from four to five 
feet wide, and eight to ten feet long, and have 



^3 



it arranged so that there are little holes be- 
tween. 

A Delegate: How would the wire trays do 
such as are used in a drier? ' 

Mr. Milco: I don't know as that would be 
as good, because the wire may have some influ- 
ence from rust or something of that kind. I 
would rather recommend boards if you can't 
get the basket material. Spread the figs one 
after the other. Do not put two together 
so that they will touch each other, but aive 
them plenty of room. " 

Mr. Smith: What would be the objection to 
using trays we have for drying raisins on? 

Mr, Milco: I think they will answer every 
purpose. If you have your figs out on the 
trays about five o'clock in the afternoon in 
August or September, they should be covered 
or taken in to prevent dew falling on them, or 
your tigs may mold and will be soft. 

A Delegate : What is the necessity if you 
have no dew? 

Mr. Milco: If you have no dew you need not 
protect them, and if you can cure raisins with- 
out covering them you can dry figs in the same 
way. Another difficulty in drying a fig in 
this country is we have so many wasps and bees 
and all sorts of insects, and flies, and the fig be- 
ing so sweet the wasps and bees and other in- 
sects swarm around them. The best thing I 
can think of is to have a covering of wire, so 
that the insects cannot get to the fruit, and the 
rays of the sun could go right through into the 
fruit. 

Mr. Sallee: Did you ever try the oiled paper 
over figs in drying? This year the McPhersons 
are drying almost all their raisins under oiled 
paper, and the heat is greater. In fact, it is too 
great for the grapes when they are first put out, 
Mr, Milco: I think it requires the sun: the 
heat alone will not answer. During the State 
Fair we had some dried figs and there was a man 
from Oregon who had a drier, and he wanted 
to try some of the White Adriatic to see 
whether he could dry them in his drier, I 
gave him half a dozen of them. He dried them 
and brought them back. They were no ac- 
count in the world. They were black— some- 
thing like those figs over here that Mr. Eisen 
sent. Mr. Eisen has the genuine White Adri- 
atic fig, but the samples he shows are too dark 
for the White Adriatic. The treatment he 
gave them is something that made them too 
dark for a white fig. I attributed it to some- 
thing of that sort. In tasting the figs that this 
man put in the drier, they retained all the 
milky taste of the fig. They were worthless; 
you could not use them at all. For that reason 
I think the rays of the sun are necessary to 
take that milk out of the fig, to perfect the 
the drying. Another thing: about every 
other day each one of the figs has to 
be turned over, and just as soon as 
the last spot of green disappears, and the fi^ 
appears perfectly white, then they are ready 
to take indoors. After they are taken in we 
take a large kettle of boiling sea water and 
using a perforated bucket we place quite 10 or 
15 pounds of the figs at a time in the bucket 
and dip them into the boiling water for a sec- 
ond or two and instantly turn it right over and 
spread them over the trays, the same as before, 
and almost instantly they are dry. The mix- 
ture don't stick to them at all, and in the 
course of a day or so after the air strikes them 



64 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



they are ready to be packed away. We packed 
them in almost all different styles, but I think 
the best way to do it is to pack it in tin cans. 

Mr. Smith : Do you think common salt 
water would do the same thing as sea water ? 

Mr. Milco : I think it would, but it might 
be better to get some chemist to give you the 
proportions to make it nearly the composition of 
sea water. 

A Delegate : How long a time does it re- 
quire to dry ? 

Mr. Milco : In the early part of the season, 
in August 1 think, it would take about six 
days, but later on it requires a little more 
sometimes; it will take from 10 to 12 or 14 days 
to be completely dried. 

Mr. Garey : To my mind the process Mr. 
Milco gives will have to be improved upon or 
we wouldn't want to go into fig culture. 

Mr. Milco: My idea is that if something 
were done in the shape of that box that our 
friend sent out from the East (the "ripe fruit 
carrier"), with little partitions of wire gauze so 
that each partition would be placed in a differ- 
ent place the sun could strike from all sides 
of it, and we could just turn the package right 
over, and it would obviate all this trouble; but 
the figs have to be handled very carefully. 

Mr. Smith: I see there is an objection 
raised to turning over, which I don't think 
amounts to anything. You take the empty 
tray and put it on another tray and turn it 
over, and you can do it just as well. I do not 
see why they should be handled any more care - 
fully than raisins, and we turn raisins in that 
way. 

Mr. Milco: But the grapes are very tough, 
and the figs are very tender. 

A Delegate: Do figs get wormy as do other 
dried fruits? 

Mr. Milco: Yes; for that reason they should 
be dipped in salt water. That is thought to 
kill all in&ect germs that may be deposited on 
them, and in the meantime it prevents insects 
from coming. They don't like salt, as a rule, 
and for quite a while there is a little taste of 
salt about it — not enough to be disagreeable — 
but after a month you would find them the 
most delicious fruit you ever tasted. Another 
thing I want to say, as a fruit-grower, that no 
matter what you put up in dried fruit do not 
send anything to market in a loose way, but 
brand with your name and the place where it is 
grown, and then if you have built up a name for 
your fruit, people will know where it comes 
from and send for it. My advice is never to 
imitate any one else. Always try to improve 
on what has been done, and that is the best 
plan I can give you, so far as the fig is con- 
cerned. If the black California fig is treated 
in the same manner as the White Adriatic you 
will find that instead of bringing three or four 
cents a pound in San Francisco, you can get 
eight cents a pound for it, and most likely 
more. 

A Delegate: How about the destruction by 
birds? 

Mr. Milco: I would go to work and plant a 
good many mulberry trees, and you will find 
the birds will go and feed on the mulberry 
trees in the first part of the season and go 
away and leave you and the figs alone. 

Mr. Garey: We are very much interested in 
this fig question, and feel very favorably to the 
White Adriatic from what we know and hear. 



Mr. Eisen exhibited some at the State Horti- 
cultural Fair a few weeks ago, that were very 
much admired and created quite a sensation. 
If it should turn out that the fig produced but 
one crop a year, that would be decidedly 
against it. If it bears throughout the season it 
may be called one crop, but I think on general 
principles it may be considered that it is a con- 
tinuous crop right along. If this fig does that 
it would be a great point in its favor. We 
would like to know that. 

Mr. Milco: That is just exactly the state of 
things. 

Irrigating the Fig. 

Mr. Garey: Another thing that enters largely 
into the matter. I do not think you can ever 
make a success of fig culture for commercial 
purposes in Southern California without an 
ample supply of water for irrigation. I under- 
stand that Dr. Eisen has been writing on the 
subject and defending the planting of this Adri- 
atic fig in any season; that it can be success- 
fully produced without irrigation. Now, I 
think in this country the party who under- 
takes that will make a failure of the business. 
Our first figs are produced on the old wood, 
quite early in the season. A few of them are 
very large and fine, then those that are not so 
large, are very abundant. If we do not have 
an ample supply of water to irrigate the first 
crop, and perhaps the second, is all we get; the 
balance dry up and drop off. But if we have 
plenty of water we keep them bearing until 
the frost comes. 

Mr. Milco: When I stated that there was 
only one crop, I n.eant to say that from the 
time it commences to ripen until the frost 
comes it is continually ripening, so that you 
can get ripe figs every day. 

Mr. Chubb: And in the aggregate yields aa 
many figs as the two crops. 

Mr. Milco: I do not know of any other fig 
that will produce anything so much as this fig. 

Mr. W. M. Williams, of Fresno: Some three 
years ago I got from Mr. Milco a lot of cuttings 
from a fig which he said had come from Dal- 
matia, giving him $97 for all the cuttings I 
could carry; I had a greenhouse and when I 
got home I cut those up, and out of that lot I 
had 1800 trees. The first year they grew from 
four to seven feet. I had also the Black Cali- 
fornia, and I was very anxious when the 
fall of the year came, because we do have a 
little frost even in semi-tropical Fresno that 
might kill the figs, but any way I let them 
grow. The frost bit my Black California, but 
my Adriatic came out unscathed by cold. I 
started them in the greenhouse until one little 
bud made its appearance — in other words I 
"calloused" them — I really did not start them 
in the greenhouse; only once in a while you 
would see a white root. That fall I cut off 
everything but one straight stock, and this 
year I started 8000 from the cuttings of that 
lot, perhaps planting 20 acres myself of them, 
planting them not closer than 25 feet. They 
are very vigorous growers, the fruit is excellent 
either green or dried, 

A Delegate: What time should the cuttings 
be started ? 

Mr. Williams: That is owing entirely to the 
season. After they lose the leaves I would cut 
them immediately, and I put mine in the green- 
house as soon as I cut them and started them. 
But I think they ought to be cut and kept 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



65 



damp until along in February if you propose 
starting from the cuttings in the open ground. 
Mr. Hixson: I became very much afflicted 
with the fig fever some 3 or four years ago and 
made the assertion that I believed the fig 
would be the coming fruit, the next fruit that 
would have a boom. They made so much fun 
of me that I began to be rather sick, but I got 
my friend Smith over th"re to believe it too, 
and said I would abide by his judgment. Then 
I kept looking to see what kind of a fig would 
answer the purpose and carry out my idea that 
the fig was going to be the thing. When I 
was going East four years ago, a man 
from Healdsburg sent down a box of figs as a 
sample to know whether I considered* it nec- 
essary for him to sort them out. They were 
just put in as they came. He said it was a 
fair sample but some were light color and others 
were dark. I suppose it was in consequence 
of the manner in which they were handled. 
As Mr. Milco said perhaps all the milky sub- 
stance was not dried out, before they turned 
them over, to properly cure them. Those that 
were ripe came so near the regular Smyrna fig, 
that when I was going East I had two little 
narrow boxes which I carried in my pockets and 
had a package of prunes in one and the fig in 
the other. I would show them on the railroad 
and when I got to New York, I went into a 
house there, and talked on the subject of the 
prunes. I thought I was going to create a 
sensation there with the big prunes. The man 
looked at them, and picked up the fig and said, 
"That is the thing to bring the money; now you 
are on the right track; that comes pretty near 
being the thing," and told me how to make a 
little improvement ; ought to dip them into sea 
water, and make the skins tender, so then I had 
another man to sustain me in my judgment be- 
sides Mr. Smith. 

Icame back home, and I think at the next meet- 
ing of the State Society I met Mr. Milco, and 
saw this fig, and I took a great deal of interest 
in it, and I think it certainly is the fig for Cali- 
fornia, and, if I am not very much mistaken, 
the fig is the thing that we want to plant. We 
do not want to quit everything else, to dig up 
orange orchards and plant figs, because there is 
so much of this country that can raise figs which 
cannot raise oranges. An important point in 
the matter of the fig culture is that the valua- 
tion of the fruit where it is grown with the duty 
added amounts to 10 cents a pound, so that 
would be the valuation at the custom house: 10 
cents a pound. If we don't come quite up to 
that and could get seven or eight cents a pound 
it certainly would be a very valuable crop. We 
have been trying all this year to get figs. We 
had two customers that wanted each a carload 
of figs; one was willing to pay 15 to 20 cents a 
pound for a grade of figs that was manipulated 
so as to come up to a certain standard. The 
other was willing to pay from seven to nine 
cents for the fig that would come up to his stan- 
dard. Of course one wanted what we call a ma- 
nipulated, or rather cured fig, taken through a 
process of sea water, etc.; the other wanted just 
a dried fig, such as we get in San Francisco in 
in sacks, worth about two and a-half or three 
cents at the present time. I have been unable 
to get them. We have recently sent on proba- 
bly as much as 4000 or 5000 pounds; I have 

written many letters on the subject but we 
never have succeeded in getting a great quan- 



tity. I do not suppose you could get to-day in 
San Francisco a carload of figs. 

In regard to shipping the ripe fig: we made 
probably three or four shipments last year. I 
believe they all came from Vacaville; some 
were shipped in 10-pound cherry drawers, and 
they were three deep in the drawers. They 
were all rotten. 1 do not believe you could 
get one you could sell. A few lots were put on 
trays without being piled up, and they came 
through in very nice condition, and were 
snatched up at once. I do not remember the 
price, but it seemed like a tremendous price to 
us, and it was very evident to my mind that a 
liberal supply would sell very readily at good 
prices. If we get the refrigerating cars that 
will keep an even temperature, then we can 
carry the figs very well, and I think Mr. Milco'a 
fig, judging from what a tention I have given 
it, would carry more safely than any of the 
black figs we have. 

Mr. Loop: Is this fig, in your estimation, 
equal or superior to the white fig of commerce? 

Mr. Hixson: I could not tell. I never saw 
any of these dried. I think the fig that I saw 
Mr. Milco have down to the fair, when dried, 
was as fine in point of texture and the gelatin- 
ous piatter, or whatever you call it, and in 
richness, as any fig we have imported. They 
were not put up quite as nice, of course. 

Budding the Pig. 

Mr. Gray: I would like to ask if any one has- 
had any success in grafting the fig. 

Mr. Smith, of Vacaville: I have had some ex- 
perience in budding the fig; very little in graft- 
ing. It is rather a difficult tree to graft, from 
the fact that the wood is very soft and pithy. 

Dr. Chubb : Dr. Congar's machine will graft 
anything. 

Mr. Smith : I never tried that. You can- 
not take ofl the bud, as with the peach bud or 
the pear bud, and insert it in the same way. 
You must cut the ring right around the limb, 
say from three-fourths of an inch to an inch 
long, with the bud on it. Then take off another 
ring of bark from a limb of the same size; open 
the ring which has the bud you want and slip 
it into tha . cut and bind it around with cloth, 
covering it up to exclude the air. There is one 
precaution you must take. When you cut into 
a fig limb when the sap is up, the sap will ex- 
ude from the limb. You must cut off your 
bark with the ring in it and you whip off the 
limb, leaving the stock where you insert your 
bud, and then insert the bud. In this way you 
can bud quite successfully; otherwise you will 
fail almost every time. The reason is this : 
that the milky substance that exudes from the 
limb or bark seems to sour and poisons the 
sap when it comes up the stock and prevents 
the bud from uniting with the limb, whereas by 
this treatment it does not poison the sap, and 
the ascending sap will unite with the sap of the 
bud. 

New Fruits. 

While I am on the floor there is one other 
thing I wish to mention. Mr. Milco referred 
to it somewhat and I desire to emphasize it, 
and that is, in buying new varieties of fruit 
never buy many of them at a time until you 
know what it is. You can afford to buy one or 
two and pay a high price for it, which you are 
almost sure to do in buying any new variety 
that springs up. Now, I have been hunting 



66 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



for a csrtain kind of peach for the last ten 
years — have bought almost everything in the 
way of peach that has been brought out in the 
United States and even Europe — and nearly 
one-half of the time I will not have a new 
peach but something I have had in bearing on 
iihe place a number of years under a new name. 
If anything new comes up and you want it buy a 
few and prove it before you go into it to any 
extent. I have about 65 varieties of peaches 
on my place that I am testing, and I will say 
"(that one-half of those are old peaches that have 
been in cultivation a good while, sprung up un- 
der new names by someone who wanted to 
make money. A tree or two is sufficient to 
test a new variety. Prove it on your own 
place, and then if it is worthy of propagation, 
you have plenty of time to go to work and 
propagate them. 

Mr. Gray: Speaking about shipping figs, I 
had an order last year from up in the moun- 
tains. They must have some figs. I put him 
up a box of green figs. He came down in a 
couple of weeks and said they had all rotted. 
He wanted me to try it again. I went and 
picked some that had begun to wilt a little and 
packed them in a 10 pound box, four deep, and 
in between the layers two or three thicknesses 
of paper, and put up three or four boxes. He 
took them in a lumber wagon for five days go- 
ing up, and when he came down he reported 
that every fig was in good condition when he 
got there. They were the California fig. I 
think that picked at just a certain stage they 
can be carried to Chicago perfectly well; cer- 
tainly if they were put up in packages not so 
deep. 

As to peaches, last year at the horticultural 
meeting we had quite a nice discussion upon 
new peaches that had been propagated in differ- 
ent parts of the State, and created quite an in- 
terest. We had one peach which came to us 
by accident this year, and I would like to 
speak of it. It was an apricot tree that was 
budded on a peach and broken off', and the 
sprout came up, and we trimmed it and let it 
stand right there. I forgot all about the tree 
until the day before Grant was buried. I hap- 
pened to be going through the orchard and 
there was this tree loaded with a very large 
yellow peach, freestone, and I think the largest 
peach I ever saw. I think that was really the 
shape of the orange cling, though a good deal 
larger than they usually get. It was very yel- 
low with a reddish cheek, very solid meat, free- 
stone and small pit. I think it is going to be a 
very valuable peach. 

A Delegate: How is it compared to the Sol- 
way? 

Mr. Gray: It is a very much better peach 
than the Solway. I think it is a little earlier, 
perhaps a week. It is a seedling we know. It 
is a sprout that came up from the root. We had 
a few trees that we called the St. John; perhaps 
some here know more about that than I do, but 
I believe .that we haven't anything growing 
now that is nearly equal to it. It ripens very 
soon after the Crawford's Late, and is very 
near the size and shape of an orange cling. 

Mr. Smith: I think you have something else 
than the St. John. The St. John, properly 
■speaking, is the earliest yellow peach in culti- 
vation in the United States. Some gentleman 
asks for the best two varieties for canning. If 
I were going to plant two peaches for canning 



of those which are generally known and in ex- 
tensive cultivation, I would take the Susque- 
hanna and the Solway. I do not know 
whether they would suit your part of the State 
or not, but they come nearer filling the bill in 
our part of the State than any peaches we have 
got. 

Mr. Williams: Have you tried any of the 
Sellers? 

Mr. Smith: Yes, sir, I have — both Seller's 
cling and Seller's free; also the Muir. I think 
that is the best drying peach in the market. 

The Muir Peach. 

Mr. Webb: The manager of Mr. Lusk's can- 
ning establishment told me that they would 
give one quarter of a cent a pound more for the 
Muir than any other peach for canning pur- 
poses. They say that the reason for it is its 
marvelous sweetness. It has more sugar in it 
than any other peach. 

Mr. Smith: The Muir peach is a new peach, 
which is propagated only in our section of the 
country. It is as I said the finest drying 
peach in the market. I will give you my rea- 
sons, and I believe you will agree that they 
are good- It is a perfect freestone; the pit 
is very small — as small a pit as you will see 
in any peach of good size; and instead of turn- 
ing to a dark color when it dries in the sun, it 
will gradually become whiter as it gets drier, 
a property I never saw in any other peach in 
my life, and I have been drying peaches for 25 
years, more or less. It is very dry of itself; it 
is very fine meated; you take a knife and cut 
it open, and it will slip through like a hot 
knife. These are all good qualities in any 
peach. It is nearly the color of a lemon; it 
really ought to be called the Lemon free. 
Where they are exposed to the sun they have a 
little red blush. The peach has some objec- 
tions, or rather the tree has. About one third 
of the crop will be inferior in size, while the 
other two-thirds will be full sizad. Another 
objection to the tree is, that it is hard to man- 
age in the orchard. The brush is very fine, 
and it is not a rapid grower. The leaves 
are quite small and very much softened about 
the edge. 

A Delegate: Other things being equal, which 
is to be preferred — the free or the cling for can- 
ning? 

Mr. Smith: My opinion is that the cling- 
stone will eventually be the canning peach, for 
as a rule clingstone peaches are firmer than 
freestones, and now there are being machines 
invented that will pit clingstone peaches as 
quickly as you can pit freestone peaches. If 
you want to plant now for canning in the 
future, I would plant one-half of the orchard in 
cling'stone peaches, anyway. The sweetness of 
the Muir peach has been spoken of: it is a very 
sweet peach — more so than usual. I have a 
cling peach, yellow, almost as round as an or- 
ange, no red about the pit. The pit is very 
small and is very similar to that on the outside. 
That is a sweeter peach and cans better than 
any peach I ever saw; it is a clingstone peach, 
and when it becomes known it is going to be 
one of the leading peaches for canning. I don't 
know of anybody else that has it but my- 
self and the old lady that I got the buds from 
near Napa City: an old lady named Porter, and 
the peach is named Porter. It was an old 
seedling tree in her yard. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



67 



A Delegate: Will you mention other clings 
for canning? 

Mr. Smith: If I were going to select two 
cling peaches for canning, I would take what 
we know as the Sacramento river orange cling, 
or the Runyon orange cling, or the Canada 
cling, or the California, and there you have 
three or four different names for one and the 
^ame peach: I will mention that as one peach 
for canning. For a yellow cling I would men- 
tion the Tippacanoe; I know nothing better of 
yellow clings for canning than those two. Now, 
I have another, a white-fleshed peach that I 
got from Texas, one of the finest flavored 
peaches I ever tasted, and being a white peach 
would be fine for canning were it not that it 
has a little red pit and when you cook it every 
bit of it goes to the syrup and colors it. That 
is a serious objection to it. 

As to the fig, I suppose there is no place that 
grows more than Vacaville; the first figs that 
go to the San Francisco market go from my 
neighborhood; the principal one in cultivation 
is the common California blue fig: a fig, I sup- 
pose, the old Spanish fathers introduced into 
this country when they first came here, the 
same as they introduced the common Mission 
grape. We have no fig that does better than 
that does, and no other figs that pay us so well. 
We are certain of two crops and when we have 
a late warm autumn we get three, and a man 
that gets three crops on a piece of land is pretty 
apt to get a good one. The first crop we take 
to the market fresh, the second and third crop 
we dry the most of, and put into the market 
as dry figs. The first crop grows so large that 
we cannot dry them. 

A Delegate: How do you gather the figs off 
of those large trees ? 

Mr. Smith: We have stepladders eighteen 
or twenty feet long, and we get up and gather 
all we can in that way; the second crop we 
usually let dry and drop off, and pick them 
up off the ground. We have tested several 
other kinds of figs in our section of the coun- 
try, with a view of getting something better 
than the common California fig: as yet we 
have not succeeded. We are trying to get a 
few that we can grow and pack, or put up in 
the same style or that will answer the pur 
pose of the real imported Smyrna fig. We 
want to see if we can't equal those, or surpass 
them if possible, but as yet we have not found 
the fig that will do it, unless Mr. Milco's White 
Adriatic will fill the bill. Gentlemen, I am 
satisfied of the value of the fig, and I will cor 
roborate what Mr. Hixson said awhile ago : 
there is no one tree we can plant in any section 
of this State where the fig does well, that we 
can make more money out of and make it 
easier than we can out of the fig. 

Mr. Hatch : I want to say a few words 
about the Muir peach. I want to speak a good 
word for it. When it was introduced I planted 
several in my place, and I was out in the or- 
chard when peaches of that variety were ripen- 
ing, and when I found the peaches on the young 
trees I said to myself, I wish all of my peaches 
were Muirs, for different reasons. In the first 
place, on account of the seed, a small pit about 
the size of the first joint of your little finger, 
with a very slight pink tint; another thing, Mr. 
Prather, often a buyer for A. Lusk & Co., of 
Temescal, said, in a fruit convention in San 
Francisco lately, that it was the best peach 



they ever had to can, one peculiar characteristic 
being that the cooking never mushed it. In 
that respect it is similar to a cling, and, being 
so easy to remove from the stone without waste, 
is preferable to the cling. 

A Delegate : Does the leaf curl ? 
Mr. Hatch : Not to my knowledge. I have 
never seen them curl. I have only had them 
two seasons. In regard to the growth, I was 
surprised to hear Mr. Smith say the wood was 
willowy and the leaves small. It is not so with 
me. It has good growth, large stock and large 
leaves, and is a very thrifty, good growing tree. 
Trees planted from dormant buds last winter, 
starting the year ago last spring, are higher 
than I can reach this way, with a spread as 
wide, and this year produced some peaches, but 
not many. Another thing in regard to the fruit 
is that most peaches when over-ripe become 
distasteful. I found these peaches on my trees 
almost drying up they were so ripe — so ripe 
they were very soft, and yet the taste was de- 
licious, something very peculiar in a yellow 
peach. 

While I have the floor, I want to say some- 
thing in regard to the general subject in dis 
cussion to-night, which, I believe, is in regard 
to such fruits that have not been overdone, or 
for which there is apparently an unlimited de- 
mand. There is a kind which will require to 
be put in good packages, which can be produced 
in every locality in the State, for which there 
is no end to the demand. I was in hopes you 
would ask me what kind of fruit it is. It is 
any fruit which you can produce better than any 
other in the locality in which you live; grow 
that and put it in good packages, there is no 
end to the demand for it. 

Mr. Wilcox : One thing in reply to Mr. 
Williams. I can answer about the Seller's 
peach; that peach was originated by my wife's 
sister, Mrs. Sellers. There are two kinds, the 
freestone and the clingstone, and they are re- 
garded as a very superior peach. The few that 
were raised four or five years ago sold to the 
San Jose cannery, and the next year the entire 
crop of about an acre sold for four cents a 
pound. 

Mr. Shinn: A few words in regard to the 
Muir peach : I was assured by a very reliable 
gen leman, two years ago, that it has a prop- 
erty which has not been mentioned here to- 
night, and is certainly the most valuable prop- 
erty that it has. That whereas jn ordinary 
freestone peaches it requires six or seven pounds 
of green fruit to produce a pound of dried, 
the Muir peach will produce a pound of dried 
peaches from four pounds. That is a very im- 
portant point. In reference to the Sellers 
peach, I procured the original buds from the 
sister of Mr. Wilcox, in Contra Costa county. 
The peach was sent to me as a very valuable 
one and I was requested to enter upon the cul- 
ture of it, and I did so, and saw at the moment 
that it was a very valuable one. I wrote to 
know all about it before I would have anything 
to do with it, and the lady said that all she 
knew of it was that there is a stray tree in the 
pasture growing without cultivation, with no 
attention paid to it, and it always grew large 
valuable peaches; the canners always thought 
very highly of it, and she said she was always 
persecuted for buds because it was large, and 
because by the time that the pit is extracted, 
by the machinery that is now used for the pur- 



68 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



pose, there will scarcely be a line of red upon 
it, and of course they liked it on that account. 
Now it is worth while to say, after all the consul- 
tation I have had with the canning factories, and 
their secretaries and their presidents, with ref- 
erence to peaches, that upon the whole they 
prefer the yellow peach ; that is, they want 
more of them, but they do want a white peach; 
they consider it of the greatest importance to 
find one that is white to the pit, and until the 
McKevitt peach was found, I know of none that 
was a good peach and didn't curl. 

Mr. Webb: How does it compare with the 
Lyon cling that was exhibited last year by Mr. 
Williams of Fresno ? 

Mr. Shinn: I do not remember. I have 
paid great attention to peaches, and if I were 
to advise anyone in reference to planting 
peaches, I would give the same advice that has 
been given to you, plant such as succeed well in 
your neighborhood, avoid all that are liable to 
curl, no matter what other qualities they may 
have. It ought to be said that most of the can- 
ners that I have anything to do with say that 
they do not like the Solway peach. The Sus- 
quehanna is certainly equal to the very best for 
canning. Everybody knows that the Crawford 
Early is a very popular peach, and so is the 
Foster, but it should be remembered that they 
ripen so nearly together and a person planting 
is not obliged to plant both for a succession. 
He had better not do so, and it is my opmion 
that the Foster is preferable to the other. I 
am not speaking as a nurseryman but as a fruit 
grower, and I have been growing fruit for 
29 years. The Crawford late has many of the 
best qualities of a peach, but it will curl three 
years out of four. The Crawford early has 
been so long in cultivation that it is but reason- 
able to suppose that some of its good qualities 
have run out. One fault is that it is inclined 
to grow double. It has been grown from bud 
to bud generation after generation, and it is but 
reasonable that it should degenerate some — 
still it does not curl, therefore it is valuable. 
But the Foster being a new peach about the 
same size, I believe it is preferable to plant. 
The important point, if you are going to plant 
peaches, is to avoid those that curl, and 
endeavor to have a succession in the time of 
ripening. You cannot go earlier with yellow 
peaches than the Foster, for the early St. John, 
though a good peach, is not desirable. 

Mr. Milco: I want to ask you something 
about Shinn's early white peach. 

Mr, Shinn: It is worth nothing. It is a 
nice peach in itself, but it has a tint that is ob- 
jectionable. The white tinted peaches are very 
much more liable to curl as a rule than the yel- 
low peaches. 

The Adaptations of Varieties. 
Dr Chapin: I do not lay claim to being an 
extensive peach grower, but I desire to call at- 
tention to this fact which is one of the most 
important ones in this whole discussion of 
fruits. Taking the peach, for instance, we 
must be extremely careful how we plant upon 
the assumption that any one particular variety 
or 2 or 3 particular varieties are adapted to 
every locality where peaches are grown. Some 
of the peaches that have been named by Mr. 
Smith this evening as being extremely well 
adapted to his locality, to Vaca valley, are 
utterly worthless in many other localities of 



the State, and it would not be wise for you to 
plant upon that assumption. The peach of 
many names, which he has given to you to 
night, (the Edwards Cling, the California 
Cling and many other names attached to that 
one peach), in Santa Clara valley is a perfect 
failure. I have planted it from buds and dor- 
mant buds and the tree itself is a very serious 
failure, has a curled leaf and the fruit is very 
inferior indeed. I have made experiments 
with quite a large number of peaches, with a 
view of finding a few good peaches for family 
use in the portion of the Santa Clara valley in 
which I reside. It is not a peach locality and 
it is useless to attempt to grow peaches for 
market purposes in such localities. The best 
success that I have had has been with certain 
California seedlings. I may mention that among 
the very choicest of those has been the Seller's 
Cling; the McKevitt Cling and another, the 
Wilcox Cling or the Albright Cling from Plac- 
erville in El Dorado county. Another ^peach 
which is proven to be one of the very choicest 
for canning purposes is not known generally in 
the State, but it has been put up this season by 
the Yuba City Packing Co., a new cannery 
establishment in Sutter county: it is the 
Tustin Cling, and some cans sent to me by 
one of the stockholders, when turned out on 
the table proved to be the very choicest peach 
that I ever saw put in a can by any packing 
company in the world, and that is saying a 
great deal. I might speak of some other 
peaches. As to the Muir, that peach, with me, 
has not been a great success. I have it in two 
dififerent portions of my orchard, and right by 
the side of it in one portion stands a seedling 
peach tree of very similar character to that as 
to color and other qualities — the same peculiar 
appearance of the lemon color and whiteness. 
It is called the orange peach, and it originated 
with Mr. Loomis, in the Santa Cruz mountains. 
He gave me buds, and I have fruited that 
right by the side of the other and it was a su- 
perior peach to the Muir. It is one of the 
finest peaches for drying purposes; and Mr. 
Loomis told me, when he gave me the buds 
three years ago, that the retixrns from that 
were a little better than that of the Muir peach 
in drying. That peach, I am satisfied, will be- 
come one of the most valuable ever planted in 
California, as I also regard the Muir to be one 
of the most valuable peaches we have, and 
from which the best results are to be obtained. 
I believe these seedling peaches that are 
are gradually discovered in various portions of 
the State (and some of which have not yet 
been heard of) and which have been found 
to be extremely valuable in a homestead in a 
single place, by the family where they origin- 
ate, one by one will come to light and be- 
come disseminated throughout the State, and 
the good qualities gradually become known. A 
very choice white cling peach, perfectly white 
to the pit and very similar to the peach that 
Mr. Williams spoke of last year is to be found 
in Porterville, Tulare county; it is known there 
as the "Sheep's Head," merely a local name 
for it. The farmer raising the peach don't 
know anything about it, excepting that it is a 
very fine peach . I might go through this to 
considerable extent and name seedling peaches 
that I have discovered through the different 
portions of the State, and many of them will 
become gradually known; and I am satisfied 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



69 



that, in the coursd of a iew years, we will have 
discovered for all the various localities of the 
State the fruits that are best adapted to them, 
and then we can arrive at the conclusion as to 
what will be the best fruit to plant in a certain 
locality, and we can not do it in any other way. 

A Delegate: Has this peach a blush to it? 

Dr. Chapin: Very little; that is, only in 
the skin— not a particle in the flesh. It is 
an oblong peach with rather a broad and flattish 
stem, under a pointed sort of a nose that some- 
what resembles a sheep's head. Something 
was mentioned as regards the size of the fig 
tree. One of the largest fig trees in this State 
is on the ground of the Hon. Henry Wilson, a 
a member of our board, in Tehama county. At 
Snelling, in Merced county, can be seen quite a 
large number together of the very largest fig 
trees in this State. There are several trees 
there in the orchard of Mr. Kelsey, in Snelling, 
that the spread of the limbs would be a great 
deal more than the length of this hall. 

Mr. Webb: Mr. Wilson, you cut down one 
of those trees; how much cord wood did you 
get out of it? 

Mr. Wilson: Sixteen cords of stove wood. 

The Fruit Union. 

The resolutions ofifered by the committee on 
Fruit Union are here presented and adopted as 
read: 

Resolved, That the California Fruit Growers' 
Union is, in our opinion, destined to be ot incalcu- 
lable advantage to the interest of the fruit-growers of 
this State, and that the gentlemen who have given 
their time and labor to bring about that Union are 
deserving of gratitude from the fruit-growers of the 
whole State of California. 

Resolved, That it is the sense of this committee 
that the interest of the fruit-growers of Southern 
California for the time being will best be served by 
the incorporation of a local org.inization. 

Resolved, That this committee recommend the 
Board of Directors of such local organizition when 
formed to consult with the directors of the California 
Fruit Union to the end that both companies may 
act in harmony and to their mutual advantage. 

O. H. CONGAK, 

J AS. Bettner, 
S. W. Preble, 
Abbot Kinney, 
Thos. A. Garey, 

The convention here adjourned until to- 
morrow morning at 10 o'clock. 

Reports on Fruit Exhibits. 

At the afternoon session of the fourth day, 
reports of committees on fruit exhibits made 
during the convention were received. Mr. 
Garey presented the report of the committee on 
citrus fruit exhibits as follows: 

To the State Fruit-Growers^ Convention : — 
We, your committee on citrus fruits, beg leave 
to report that we have examined the exhibits 
in Agricultural hall, and find the following 
localities represented by the citizens hereinafter 
mentioned. The display is, considering the 
season, highly meritorious, and reflects great 
credit on Southern California and the enter- 
prising gentlemen making the exhibits from 
the several localities : 

Santa Barbara — Elwood Cooper exhibits 1 
plate Mexican limes; 1 branch olives; 1 bottle 
olive oil, his own manufacture from the olives, 
very clear and of first quality; 2 plates and 1 
■box seedling lemons; specimens green oranges. 

Los Angeles — A. Weis, Alameda street, 1 



banana plant with green fruit and bloom; 3 
plates seedling oranges. J. W. Wolf skill, Ala- 
meda street: 1 plate WolfskiU's best oranges; 
1 plate Tangerine oranges; 1 plate Mandarin 
oranges; 1 plate paper rind St. Michael oranges; 
1 plate large St. Michael oranges; 1 plate Rivers' 
late St. Michael oranges; 1 plate myrtle leaf St. 
Michael oranges; 1 plate Washington Navel or- 
anges; 1 plate Dwarf Mandarin oranges; 1 plate 
Variegated oranges; 1 plate Japanese oranges; 
1 plate Seedling oranges; 1 plate Bouton lemon; 
1 plate Eureka lemon; 1 plate Villa Franco 
lemon; 1 plate Anatie lemon; 1 plate Bonny 
Broy lemon; 1 plate Genoa lemon; 1 plate Im- 
perial limes; 1 plate Mexican limes; 1 plate 
Sweet limes. Mrs. W, D. Bigelow : 1 box seed- 
ling oranges; 1 bunch green dates; this is a re- 
markable production, adding one more to the 
long list of our productive possibilities in 
Southern California. William Niles, Washing- 
ton street : 2 plates seedling oranges. A. F. 
Kercheval : 2 plates Mexican limes. A. 
Pratt, Lemon street : 1 box Mexican limes. F. 
M. Trapp : 1 cluster seedling oranges; 1 box 
seedling oranges; 1 box Mexican limes. H. 
Preston : 2 large and fine clusters seedling or- 
anges; 1 display citron of commerce. C. R. 
Workman, Lemon street : 1 cluster Eureka 
lemons, very fine; 1 cluster seedling oranges; 1 
cluster Wolfskin's Bsst; 2 plates from the 
original tree Eureka lemon; seed imported from 
Hamburg, Germany, in 1872, only one seed 
growing, from which buds were put on orange 
stock. This is the famous Eurtka lemon 
named and introduced to the public and dis 
seminated exclusively by Thomas A. Garey 
Mr. Gilda, Macy street : 1 plate pear guava, 
Dr. M. McCarry, superb cluster of seedling or 
anges. I. W. Hooper : 3 plates seedling or 
anges; 1 plate Navel oranges; 1 plate Mediter 
renean Sweet oranges. Geo. J. Dalton : 1 
large fine cluster seedling oranges. 

Orange — Joel B. Parker: 2 plates Mexican 
limes; 1 box Mexican limes; 1 box paper rind 
St. Michael oranges; 1 box Lisbon lemons. Dr. 
0. P. Chubb: 1 cluster Mediterranean Sweet 
oranges, season of 1884 85; 1 cluster season of 
1885-86; 1 plate Mediterranean Sweet, sea- 
son of 1883 84; 1 plate Mexican limes; 1 
plate Washington Navel oranges. 

Anaheim — Leonard Parker: 2 plates seedling 
oranges; 1 cluster Mediterranean Sweet oranges; 
1 plate seedling lemons; 1 plate Lisbon lemons. 

Pasadena — Dr. O. H. Congar: 1 box Lisbon 
lemons; specimens of Eureka lemons. Lyman 
Craig: 1 plate Eureka lemons: D. M. Graham: 
1 plate of strawberry guava. M. Rosenbaum: 
1 plate Sicily seedling lemons. 

Crescenta Canada— Theodore Parker: 2 plates 
seedling oranges. 

Downey — Robert Bed well: 2 plates seedling 
oranges; 1 plate seedling lemons; 1 plate Mexi- 
can limes; 1 plate Tahi i oranges, 

Alhambra — T. D. Kellogg: 1 plate guavas; 1 
plate seedling oranges, season 1884. F. Ed- 
ward Gray: 1 plate Chinese Mandarin 
oranges; 1 plate JVlexican limes; 1 plate 
lemon guavas. A. C. Weeks: 1 plate Sa- 
truma Hill glove oranges; 1 cluster oranges; 
1 plate seedling oranges; 1 plate Eu- 
reka lemons. G. B. Adams: 1 plate Chinese 
Mandarin; 1 plate seedling oranges; 1 cluster 
oranges; 1 plate Wasfiington Navel oranges; 1 
cluster Washington Navel oranges. R. T. 
Bishop: 1 plate seedling oranges; 1 plate Wash- 



7° 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



ington Navel oranges; 1 plate Eureka lemons. 
J. C. Byram: 1 plate seedling oranges, season 
1884. S. B. Kingsley: 1 plate Washington 
Navel oranges; 1 cluster seedling oranges; 1 
plate seedling lemons. 

Duarte — W. P. Wright: 1 box Mexican 
limes. (These limes are of exceeding good 
quality, clean, bright and of large size.) 1 box 
Washington Navel oranges. A. Boddy: 1 plate 
lemons; 1 plate Hornet oranges; Wilson's best 
oranges; 1 cluster; 1 plate seedling lemons. 

La Dow (south of Los Angeles) — 1 plate 
seedling oranges produced without irrigation. 

Glendale (north of Los Angeles) — 2 plates 
Mexican limes, very fine, good quality; 1 box 
limes, 1 cluster oranges, seedlings, clean and 
bright. 

Pomona — Rev. C. F. Loop: 1 plate Mexican 
limes, 3 plates seedling oranges, 1 plate all first- 
class lemons. H. G. Bennett — 1 cluster Wash- 
ington Navel oranges. James Smith — 1 cluster 
seedling oranges, 1 plate seedling limes, 1 plate 
seedling lemons. S. Duton — 1 plate Mediterra- 
nean sweet oranges, season of 1884. D. N. 
Graham — 1 plate strawberry guava. 

Santa Ana — 3 plates seedling oranges, 3 clus- 
ters seedling oranges, 1 plate lemons, 1 cluster 
oranges from two year-old tree. H. Goepper 
— 1 bunch green dates. 

Tustin — H. K. Snow: 1 plate Washington 
Navel oranges, 1 plate Thomas oranges, 1 plate 
seedling oranges, 2 plates Genoa lemons, 1 plate 
Eureka lemons, 2 plates seedling oranges, sam- 
ples of seedlings, Washington Navel and Medi- 
terranean sweet oranges, season of 1884. P. T. 
Adams — 1 plate Mandarin oranges. A. Guy 
Smith — Box seedling oranges, picked when 
quite green, evened up nicely. 

In closing this report we desire to state the 
phenomenal bright and clean appearance of the 
Los Angeles and vicinity citrus fruits. Los 
Angeles has earned the unenviable reputation 
of a "trade mark" caused by the black and un- 
presentable appearance of the fruit in many in- 
stances in the market. 

The fruit on exhibition we find exceedingly 
clean and presentable in general appearance, 
comparing most favorably with the oranges 
from Duarte and other well-known first-class 
orange-growing sections of Southern California. 
Why this is so, can in a measure, at least, be 
accounted for by the increased vigilance of our 
orange-growers and the better and more thor- 
ough care of orange orchards induced by the 
advent of the scale bug here, and compulsory 
need of cleaning and caring for the orchards. 
Respectfully submitted, 

Thos. a, Garey, Los Angeles, 
James Bettner, Riverside, 
G. M. Gray Chico. 

Report on Deciduous Fruits. 

Mr. Sol. Runyon presented the report of 
committee on deciduous fruits, as follows : 

We, your committee, beg leave to report that 
we have examined the display of deciduous 
fruit in Horticultural hall, believe that in merit 
it stands superior to any exhibit hitherto made 
in this locality, and highly creditable to the 
southern portion of the State. Many of the 
specimens exhibited were of unusual interest. 
We deem the display of White Winter Pear- 
main apples worthy of especial mention. The 
display from Downey were very fine in size. 
The following is the detailed report : 



Downey — A. E. Davis: 3 plates White Winter 
Pearmain. J. P. Dickerson — 1 plate Smith's 
Cider. Wm. Caruther — 1 plate Ben Davis ; 2 
plates Roxbury Russet ; 1 plate Baldwin ; 1 
Yellow Bellflower; 1 Yellow Newton Pippin; 2 
plates Easter Buerre pear ; unknown, 1 plate 
Kentucky Redstreak ; 2 of mixed varieties ; 1 
Vicar of Wakefield. L. M. Grider — 1 plate 
pound pear. „„. ," ■< 

Ranchito — J. W. Gates: 1 plate Winesap; 1 
Baldwin; 1 White Winter Pearmain; 1 Yellow 
Bellflower; 2 Yellow Newton Pippin. Pears — 
1 plate Doyenne d'Alencon; 1 Winter Nelis. 

Compton — S. Rogers: 5 plates White Winter 
Pearmain ; 4 Yellow Bellflower ; 2 of Winter 
Nelis pears. John Ganes— 2 plates White 
Winter Pearmain; 1 Yellow Bellflower; 1 Ken- 
tucky Redstreak; 1 Smith's Cider; 1 Yellow 
Newton Pippin; 1 Nickajack; 1 Lawyer; 1 Red 
Romanite. Isaac Wilson — 1 plate Yellow Bell- 
flower. Clinton Heath — 2 plates White Winter 
Pearmain". E. D. Stone — 1 plate Ben Davis ; 1 
White Winter Pearmain; 1 unknown variety. 

Cerritos— C. B Paris: 2 plates White Winter 
Pearmain; 2 N. Y. Pippin; 1 Roman Beauty; 1 
Smith's Cider; 1 Nickajack; 1 Ben Davis; 1 R. 
I. Greening ; 1 Willow Twig ; 1 Shockley ; 2 
Winter Nelis pear. 

Orange — Dr. Chubb : 1 plate Spitzenberg ; I 
Ben Davis; 1 R. I. Greening; 1 White Winter 
Pearmain. 

Duarte — A. Boddy : 1 plate White Winter 
Pearmain; 1 St. Petersburg; 2 unknown varie- 
ties. 

Glendale — H. J. Crow : 3 plates Winter Nelis 
pears ; 1 dozen Doyenne d'Alencon pears; 2 
Easter Buerre. 

Pomona — C. H. Loop : 1 plate blue pear- 
main; 1 N. Y. pippin; 1 Canada Rennette; I 
Spitzenberg; 1 Penn. Redstreak ; 1 polo; 1 
emperor. 

La Dow — G. Rowland : 1 plate Nickajacks; 
3 Ben Davis; 2 Smith's cider; 2 W. W. Pear- 
main; 2Ni Y. pippin; 1 R. I. greening; 1 Wine- 
sap; 1 yel. Bellflower; 1 seedling. 

National City — James Currier: 1 plate 
Winter Nelis pears. 

Frank A. Kimball : 3 plates W. W. Pear- 
mains; 3 yel. Bellflowers; 1 Baldwin; 1 Ben. 
Davis; 2 Winesap; 1 Nickajack; 1 Limbertwig; 

1 Roxbury russet; 1 Lawyer; 1 R. I. greening; 

2 N. Y. Pippin; 2 Red Jim, second crop; 1 seed- 
ling; 2 unknown; 2 Winter Nelis pears. 

■Tustin — Mr. Snow : 1 plate yel. Bellflower; 1 
Smith's cider; 1 Winter Nelis pears; 1 Vicar 
of Wakefield; 1 unknown. 

Santa Ana^ — Dr. Wlmendorf; 3 plates Ben. 
Davis; 1 W. W. Pearmain. A. T. Armstrong : 
1 plate W. W. Pearmain; 1 yel. Bellflower; 1 
mixed variety; 1 Winter Nelis pears. F. A. 
Marks, 2 W. W. Pearmain; D. Holliday : 
1 Ben. Davis; 1 W. W. Pearmain; 1 yel. Bell- 
flower; 2 Vicar of Wakefield pears; Geo. 
Minter : 1 W. W. Pearmain; unknown; 2 plates 
Winter Nelis pears. 

Newport — J. H. Moesser: 1 plate Kentucky 
Redstreaks; 1 Ben Davis; 1 White Winter 
Pearmain. Unknown— 2 plates unknown; 1 
Vicar of Wakefield; 1 pound pear, 

Pasadena — Mr. Rosenbaum: 1 plate Winter 
Nelis pear. E. Millard: 1 plate White Winter 
Pearmain. 0. S. Barber: 1 plate Roxbury 
Russe'; 1 White Winter Pearmain;! unknown. 
James Smith: 1 plate Winter Nelis pear. Ed. 
L. Ferris: 1 plate December peach; one un- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



71 



known apple. W. T. Knight: 1 plate Genitan; 
1 White Winter Peartnain; 1 Red June, second 
crop. A. 0. Bristol: 1 plate White Winter 
Pearmain. Lyman Craig: 1 plate unknown 
variety apple. Walter Coolley: 1 plate Winter 
Nelis pear. Rev. Mosher: 1 plate Ben Davis; 
1 White Winter Pearmain; 1 seedling, 

Santa Barbara — El wood Cooper: 1 plate 
King of Thompkins; 1 Roman Beauty; 1 Twenty 
Ounce; 1 Yellow Beliflower; 1 Yellow Newton 
Pippin; 1 Jonathan; 1 Fall Pippin; 1 W. W. 
Pearmain; 1 Golden Pippin. 

Alhambra— S. B. Kingsley: 1 plate W. W. 
Pearmain; 1 Nickajack. F. E. Gray: 1 W. W. 
Pearmain; 1 Winter Nelis pear, R. F. Bishop 
— 1 plate Beauty of Rome; 1 W. W. Pearmain. 
J. C. Byron — 1 plate W. W. Pearmain. 

Los Angeles — C. R. Workman: 2 plates W. 
W. Pearmain. \Y. B. McQuade— 1 plate Fall 
Pippin; 4 plates Easter Buerre pears; 1 unknown 
pear. Geo. J. Dalton— 2 plates W. W. Pear- 
main; 2 N. Y, Pippin; 1 Ben Davis; 1 Smith's 
Cider. John Hooper- 1 plate Nickajack; 1 
W. W. Pearmain. Milton Thomas: 3 plates 
Smith's Cider; 3 Nickajack; 1 Tillequah; 2 W. 
W. Pearmain; 2 Yellow Beliflower; 1 Holland 
Pippin; 1 Pen Davis; 1 Rubicon; 2 California 
Keeper; ) Dominic; 1 Lawyer; 1 Kentucky Red 
Stock; 1 Seek-No-Further; 1 R. I. Greening; 
1 N. Y. Pippin; 1 Fall Queen; 1 Harrison. 
Respectfully submitted, 
Sol. Rdnyon, Courtland. 
S. McKiNLAY, Los Angeles. 
C. E. White, Pomona. 
E. E. Edwards, Santa Ana, 
Miscellaneous Fruits, Etc. 
Mr. Wilcox presented report of the commit- 
tee on miscellaneous fruits, as follows : 

Afr. President, and Members of the Convention: 
Your committee to whom was referred the miscel- 
laneous articles on exhibition, not included in the 
citrus family and green deciduous fruits, would report 
as follows: 

That they have made such an examination as their 
limited time would permit, and that they find every 
product included in the exhibits possessing merit 
worthy of notice. 

Grapes. — Among the grapes exhibited are those of 
Sam Brown, Tustin, Santa Ana valley. Like all the 
other grapes exhibited, they are of the second crop, 
but make a very creditable exhibit. The varieties 
are the Black Morocco, Cornichon and Victoria. 
The Black Morocco are very large, but not well col- 
ored. N. Nisson and G. W. Minter show a few 
varieties of grupes, embracing the Muscat, Large 
Mission, etc. 

Wines. — Through the politeness of Prof. George 
Husmann, we copy from the partial report made by 
him to the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture, re- 
lating to wines exhibited by J. H. Drummond, Dun- 
filian vineyard, Glen Ellen, Sonoma county, com- 
prising the following varieties; Semillon — clear white, 
very fine, sprightly and high flavor; Pinot de Per- 
naud — a fine type of claret wine, rather light in color 
and body, but with a sprightly acid and fine flavor; 
Petit Sirrah — deeper in color, more tannin, more 
body, though not so delicate as the foregoing, a very 
fine claret; St. Macaire — softer than the preceding, 
deep in color, strong in tannin, more resembling the 
Burgundies than the foregoing; Gros Mancin — very 
fine, deep in color, but delicate and sprightly, fine 
flavor, a true claret of the highest type; Tannat — 
very fine, much like the foregoing, abundance of 
tannin and color, sprightly and full; Carbernet Sau- 
vignon — very delicate and sprightly, fine flavor, but 
with more tannin than expected in this variety, yet, 
on the whole, the best of a very superior exhibit of 
wines of leading claret type. 



Raisins. — We find, the exhibits of raisins large and 
very choice, well put up and well cured generally. 
In the list we find those of R. J. Blee, packed by 
the Santa Ana Valley Fruit Company. London 
Layers, grown, cured and packed by H. D. Halla- 
day, also from Santa Ana, are choice. The Muscat 
of Alexandria raisins, from H. K. Snow, Tustin, 
Santa Ana valley, are very large and fine. Mr. Snow 
shows some seedless Sultana raisins, well grown and 
well cured; also, some London Layers of very 
superior quality. McPherson Bros. , of Orange, Los 
Angeles county, exhibit a large collection of raisins, 
of first quality and in fine condition. D. W. P. 
Chubb, of Orange, shows a box of raisins dried on 
the ground, taken from the sweat box. While they 
retain the bloom of the grape, they appear as if dried 
rather than cured. We do not reler specially to some 
small lots of this fruit, of more or less merit. C. Z. 
Culver, of Orange, Santa Ana valley, shows a small 
box package of very choice (London Layer) Muscat 
raisins, well cured, with the bloom perfect. The 
raisins are covered with tinfoil, and that is covered 
with oil paper, and would be an attractive package 
for the retail trade. 

Figs. — The White Adriatic fig exhibited by Gus- 
tav Eisen of Fresno, appears to be a very superior 
variety. The fruit is shown in its natural, un- 
bleach-sd condition. It is large, and well cured and 
presents a very handsome appearance, being, in our 
judgment, equal, if not superior, to any fig ever 
imported into this State and supplies a long-felt 
want. 

Dried Fruits. — The exhibits of dried fruits are 
hght. The sun-dried French prunes of H. Goepper 
from Santa Ana, are very large, and under proper 
manipulation and packing would show well in any 
market. His apricots also 'appear to advantage. 
Mr. Goepper also exhibits a bottle of unfermented 
wine. It is clarified and fshows well. Joel B. Par- 
ker, of Orange, shows evaporated apples and apri- 
cots, which we consider of beit quality, though not 
possessing the best appearance alongside those 
packed for show. 

Fruit Box. — There is also on exhibition a patent 
fruit box similar in construction to the common egg 
box used on the Pacific Coast, with the addition ot 
paper sheets, perforated on the cides and top, so as 
to afford perfect ventilation. This box comes rec- 
ommended by Parker Earle, President of the Amer- 
ican Horticultural society. It is manufactured by 
Jenkins, McGuire & Co. of Balti;-nore, Md. 

English Walnuts, etc. — Of three exhibits of Eng- 
lish walnuts, the two varieties shown by Elwood 
Cooper, of Santa Barbara, are large, of good color, 
soft shell, plump, sweet kernel. The two samples 
of almonds of Mr. Cooper, are also good. Of the 
two varieties of chestnuts exhibited by Mr. Cooper 
the American variety is very large and fine. The 
walnuts exhibited by Geo. W. Ford, of Santa Ana, 
are of soft shell and very jg large. There are two 
samples of Italian chestnu which are not worthy 
of any special mention. 

Olive Oil. — The exhibit of olive oil of Elwood 
Cooper, needs no commendation from us, it hav- 
ing already acquired an enviable reputation in 
all markets where it has been introduced. A branch 
of the olive in fruit, is also exhibited by Mr. Cooper. 
We also report a jar of very large pickled Mission 
olives, put up in 1884, exhibited by P. Cazneau of 
San Fernando. 

Flowers. — The bouquets of roses and other flowers, 
from Mrs. Maggie C. Rice, of Highland Park, are 
choice and quite attractive; also, a basket of flowers 
exhibited by Mrs. Rosenbaum, of Pasadena. 

Corn and Vegetables. — There is a fine exhibit of 
white corn in the ear, made by Mr. Doyle. Also a 
watermelon of very large size and excellent quality, 
probably weighing 65 pounds, exhibited by D. 
Edson Smith, of Santa Ana. Mr. Smith has a flat 
ribbed squash of hard shell, marked 90 pounds; 
also shows another squash, of supposed mixed char- 
acter, of much larger size, with shell not quite sa 



72 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



hard. Of the special value of these squashes, the 
committee malces no further report. There are sev- 
eral very laige mangel wurzel beets, exhibited by 
Mr. Smith; also two varieties of sweet potatoes; the 
white Brazilian and red Bermuda, that are well 
grown. Also, by Elwood Cooper, a bunch of yel- 
low Nansamoned sweet potatoes, very smooth and 
fine, illustrating the yield of that variety on the vine. , 

Orchard Wbififletree, etc. — A double and single 
whiffletree, with clevis and traces so attached as to 
he used in the orchard without injury to the trees, 
appears to be a good device, which bears patent date 
of 1883. There is also on exhibition a patent har- 
ness for use in the orchard, which does away with 
the whiffletree altogether. It consists of a steel yoke 
drawn up under the horses' body so as to closely 
connect the team, a broad band passing over the 
back to hold the yoke in its plane. The contrivance 
is such, that the draft comes from a central point in 
the yoke. The horses are connected to the yoke by 
a short trace, and the claim is, that it can be used 
without injury to trees or vines. 

Insecticides. — \ he exhibit of insecticides, by E. 
C, Niedt & Co., of Los Angeles, consisting of sev- 
eral kinds, is worthy of special notice. 

Orchard Tools. — Dr. O. H. Congar, of Pasadena, 
exhibits his mortise and tenon grafting machine, 
which appears to be of practical value. W. B. 
Forsyth of Orange, exhibits a pruning-knife, the prac- 
tical value of which is not known to the committee. 
I. A. Wilcox, "j 
A. T. Hatch, V Committee. 
Geo. Rice, j 

Adoption of the Reports. 

On motion it was ordered that these reports 
be received and placed on tile and made part of 
the proceedings of the convention. 

Mr. Grey: I will be glad to say something 
in regard to the steelyoke here exhibited. I 
am not advertising any interest, still I would 
like to have the fruit-growers have the machin- 
ery that can be used to the best advantage. 
You can use those especially in the vineyards, 
and anyone who has to cultivate cannot afford 
to be without them. We all know the difficulty 
of getting up close to the vines after they 
have gotten about two feet growth, but with 
that arrangement you can cultivate or plow 
very close to your vines and the horses do it 
with as great ease as they do in the old way, 
and the man with about one-half the exertion 
outside of walking. I think that everyone 
who has grapes to cultivate, or young trees, 
would find it to his advantage to procure one 
or more of these. 

The chair announcecd the topic for the after- 
noon: 

Protection to Fruit Industry. 

Mr. Aiken: I do not consider this subject a 
political question: it is simply a policy for the 
fruit growers to carry up. 1 have very fixed, 
decided opinions on the subject of "Protection." 
Protection has been the policy of the govern- 
ment of the United States*irom its conception; 
the first act of the first Congress in 1789, was 
an act imposing a tax upon importations for 
the purposes of revenue, and the protection and 
encouragement of the manufacturing interests 
have continued until the war of 1812 necess- 
itated a tax upon importation that was 
almost prohibitory, almost 100 cents on the 
dollar. That led to a great deal of 
trouble with our shipping interests in 
New England, but that tax was enforced by 
the aid of such an eloquent advocate as John C. 
Calhoun, of North Carolina, and Henry Clay, 
of Kentucky, and was opposed by that eloquent 



statesman, Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts. 
However, there was in a few years a reduction 
in the tariff, until 1824:, when there was a slight 
increase because Daniel Webster had from 
necessity been obliged to favor pro- 
tection, as New England had become a 
manufacturing section of the country, and John 
C. Calhoun, finding that the Southern States 
would be necessarily producing States, and not 
manufacturing, turned in favor of free trade. 
This led to considerable discussion in this 
country, so that in 1832 there was a compro- 
mise by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster with 
Mr. Calhoun, and the tax was somewhat re- 
duced, but the direct result of that reduction 
was a financial crisis in 1837, that for, we might 
say, the first time almost revolutionized the 
finances of the country. In 1842 there was a 
slight increase in the tax, and in 1846, under 
Mr. James K. Polk, at the commencement of 
the Mexican War, the tax on importations was 
further reduced in a manner looking to free 
trade. This continued for a series of years, 
until it led, as we believe, to that great finan- 
cial crisis again in the year 1857 that nearly 
bankrupted not only our Government, but 
nearly every individual living in the United 
States. That was followed up to 1861 with 
almost a failure of resources on the part of the 
United States, so that in 1860, just prior to the 
war, no money could be borrowed by the 
United States Government, but the necessities 
of war led to the imposition of a tax for reve- 
nue upon importation, and under that tax we 
live substantially to-day. So when 1 assert 
that protection has been the policy of this coun- 
try, I think history will bear me up, and when 
I assert, also, that the financial crises of this 
country have followed almost immediatrfly, and 
as a natural consequence, upon the reduction in 
the tariff by the Government of the United 
States. 1 desire to l^ave that and point out, if 
possible, why it is policy for the producers of 
this country to seek protection. Our wool in- 
terests have stood in need, and have received 
the protection of this Government. Until 
within a few years there, of course, has been a 
great deal of prosperity growing out of the 
wool interests, but the reduction a few years 
since in the tariff upon wool has led to such an 
importation of Australian wool, also from other 
sections, especially South America, that it has 
almost made sheep-raising for wool impossible; 
and, my friend, the Hon. H. C. Wilson, of Red 
Bluff, although somewhat a free-trade man, 
would probably favor a tariff upon wool, so that 
his industry of raising sheep would be more 
profitable than it is 

The prune industry to my mind, is one of 
the most important industries that we have. 
W^e send to Europe annually over $3,000,000 
of our money to import the foreign prune. 
There is now and has been for many years lev- 
ied upon the foreign prune a duty of 2 cts. per lb 
ad vnlorem, which is not sufficient owing 
to the cheap labor and the old or- 
chards, and the methods of preparing 
that they have in Europe as against our 
young and growing orchards, and our want of 
knowledge and skill in the preparation of fruit; 
and I believe further that if our Government 
could levy a tax of 3 cents per pound it would 
be no more than is fair and just to this great 
and growing enterprise. If we did receive 
13,000,000 of American money in California, in- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



1Z 



stead of sending it to Europe, and return to the 
East that value of fruit, how rich it would 
make our coast. We raise, to our .-nind, a bet- 
ter prune; we have a better climate; we can in 
time learn the methods and principles of pre- 
paring, grading and packing those prunes, 
so that we can fill the needs of the Eastern 
markets on the basis of the foreign fruits, but 
I submit that we should now have a protec- 
tion of 3 cents a pound. 

So far as the raisin is concerned, I believe 
that the raisin grower, owing to the fact that 
the cost of the raisin is substantially that of 
labor, which is expensive in this country, in- 
stead of two cents should have double, at least 
four cents protection. A few years since they 
had two and one-half cents, but that was chang- 
ed. That little half-cent did not materially in- 
jure the country, but was a serious blow to our 
raisin growers, and if California is ever to be a 
profitable raisin State it should have a firm pro- 
tection in view of the difference in the cost of 
labor. 

The production of olive oil is one that could 
be developed into a great interest, but it must 
have protection. I cannot understand why any 
person desires the direct and oppressive compe- 
tition with the old world as against the fruit in- 
dustry on this coast. We have the best State 
in the Union, we have a climate and soil super- 
ior to any in the world, but unfortunately our 
people, though they are intelligent, industrious 
and useful citizens, cannot live on ten cents a 
day, and that is what foreign labor costs in 
those countries that we are brought directly in 
competition with. 

Mr. Wilson: Let me interrupt you if you 
had a world for a market with free trade, don't 
you think it would be better for all the coun- 
tries? 

Mr. Aiken: If we had that, in a few years, 
allow me to state, that I think probably that 
China would supply the world with almost 
everything, and we would be reduced to the 
level of a Chinaman in this country. I must 
say that the policy of the strongest, the 
wealthiest and the best nations in the world 
has been protection for their interests and for 
their people. England is a, very marked ex- 
ample of the idea of free trade, but I can say 
now that I think that the best minds in Eng- 
land and their best people are looking for the 
salvation of England through protection. Ger- 
many protects its interests; France protects its 
interests, and France is certainly a very rich 
and prosperous nation. The common people in 
England, the most of them are in trouble and 
very poor. 

Mr. Wilson: It is the most prosperous na- 
tion on the globe. 

Mr. Aiken: Yes, there is great financial 
force in England, but it is not with the common 
people. The common people of the French re- 
ceived after that great French revolution a lit- 
tle piece of land, maybe no larger than one to 
five acres, and they made themselves indepen- 
dent and rich through their industry, and the 
protection French law has thrown around it. 

Mr. Wilson: Who pays the tariff? Isn't it 
the consumer, the poor man that does all the 
work and earns all the money? He pays every 
dollar of it. 

Mr. Aiken: I would answer that by saying 
that the man who takes a protected prune pays 
Ms portion of the tax, but the money, the three- 



millions of money that is sent to these foreign 
nations, would be kept at home and would be 
of more value to the people than the whole tax 
that they pay for the protection. It is the en- 
couragement of the industry. Now Mr. Wil- 
son will admit that without protection the 
raisin industry or the prune industry could not 
flourish in this State, and we could not profit- 
ably make raisins. 

I will make a motion that Congress be mem- 
orialized to fix a tariff upon foreign prunes of 
3 cents a pound, and upon raisins of four 
cents a pound and a suitable tax upon olive oil, 
which latter is to my mind a very important 
industry, though still in its infancy, so that we 
can provide the world with an honest, fair and 
unadulterated olive oil, which we are unable to 
get from Europe at any price. If that resolu- 
tion be passed I believe that the Congress of 
the United States at the present time has a 
large majority in favor of protection and we can 
secure the desired result. 

Mr, Shinn: I think this is entirely out of 
order as a general question of political econ- 
omy. I think this convention should confiae 
itself to the consideration simply of whether it 
is to the interest of the California fruit-growers 
that there should be an additional tax upon 
prunes, raisins and olive oil. 

Mr. Wilson: I'here was an old neighbor of 
mine, by the name of Nesmith, said to me, 
Why not favor a protective tariff? You know 
you get a less price for your wool without it. I 
said that is just the difference between me and 
you. I am in the sheep business, and I con- 
tinue it because I want no rights that I would 
not accord to my humblest neighbor; I want 
no rights legislated to me, because to legislate 
from one man's pocket into another's is wrong. 

Mr. Hatch: I move that it is the sense of 
this convention that the various fruit industries 
of this State need a protective tariff. Sec- 
onded. 

Mr. Webb: I move to amend that by sub- 
stituting for the words "protective tariff," 
that, our Senators and representatives in Con- 
gress be requested and instructed to pass and 
procure such legislation as may advance the in- 
terests of the fruit growers and producers of 
California, and I will explain the reasons tor so 
moving to amend. In the first place, there is 
certain other legislation which is proposed 
to be enacted that will be very injuri- 
ous to the fruit interests of this State, 
especially the southern portion of it. If 
that Mexican "Reciprocity Treaty"' is finally 
ratified and goes into effect, there will be an op- 
position to Southern California fruit, and you 
cannot tell where it will extend to; it is more 
formidable than you have any idea of. It is no 
use to ignore the fact that Mexico can- produce 
a very fine orange. What does that "Mexican 
Treaty" provide? It provides that in consid- 
eration of the privileges to the producers and 
manufacturers of coal, iron, steel and petro- 
leum, to ship into that country all their products 
and their manufactured articles free of duty, 
and that in consideration of that great privilege 
that has been extended to that class of enter- 
prises, that the United States will grant Mexico 
the privilege of sending into the United States 
limes or lemons or oranges, grapes, raisins, figB 
or wine, in fact, everything that is produced in 
the soil, which will come in direct competition 
with our products. I think, therefore, that it 



74 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



is necessary to cover the whole ground, which I 
believe the amendment offered by me will do. 

Mr. Bettner: I will rise to second Colonel 
Webb's amendment. If Congress should give 
us a duty of 20 cents a pound on raisins, it 
would be of no use to us if they should then 
put the "Mexican Treaty" into effect. 

Mr. Hatch withdrew his motion in favor of 
the substitute, and Mr. Aiken withdrew his 
motion for a commitee of three. 

Dr. Congar: In view of the fact that we im- 
port two or three million boxes of raisins from 
the old country, whereas we only produce two 
or three hundred thousand boxes, while I am a 
protectionist, it seems so me very unjust to the 
forty-eight or fifty millions of people to oblige 
them to pay this extra tax because we are not 
organized or old enough to do this work as 
cheaply as we ought; and while we can produce 
only two or three hundred thousand boxes 
Congress will notice no such proposition. You 
can put it in gold letters that they will not 
adopt any such unjust measure. We have got 
to correct the method of producing these 
things. Generation after generation have come 
and gone in Europe before they got down to 
this methodical, mechanical and close way of 
handling their fruits. They handle one or two 
acres, and here we are anxious to handle a 
thousand. We will fail, because we are under- 
taking to do too much. 

Mr. Hatch: I would like to ask one ques- 
tion of Dr. Congar. How long does he suppose it 
would be, with a "protective tariff" of four 
cents a pound, before California could supply 
all these articles. 

Dr. Congar: I will say this: the principle of 
Government and the present sentiment of the 
people is against the protection of the rich or 
a monopoly, especially at the expense of the 
poverty-stricken portion of the country. On 
that grand principle, Congress will not do any- 
thing for us. I will not answer directly the 
gentleman's question, because it would require 
some considerable explanation, but I say on 
general principles, our Government would not 
listen to a proposition of that kind where mil- 
lions are expecting these imported goods. 

Mr. Aiken moved as an amendment that a com- 
mittee of rive be appointed by the chair to re- 
port a memorial to Congress in favor of our 
fruit interests, such report to be made the next 
morning. Carried. 

The chair appoints Mr. W. H. Aiken, Dr. 
Congar, Dr. Chubb, Mr. Bettner and W. H. 
Workman. 

On motion of Mr. Hatch, it is resolved that 
the subject of " The cultivation and pruning of 
fruit trees " be discussed at the evening session. 

Pruning the Orange. 

Dr. Congar: I wish to say a few words be- 
fore I have to go home, about the " pruning of 
the orange tree." I discovered something a 
■while ago which was new to me at the time, 
that the orange tree especially, and the lemon 
also, project their wood in the form of threes ; 
that there are three branches that start off from 
a given point about the same time, and under 
favorable circumstances the tendency of the 
tree is to grow rapidly in a horizontal direction 
rather than to shoot up. I found that in prun- 
ing the tree in a careless way, or by a careless 
hand, that it would grow unevenly, first one 
side and then the other, and also, that on the 



northern side of the tree it grew much more 
rapidly than upon the southern exposure. That 
is another proposition which I might discuss, 
but I will drop that for the time being. I found 
also that the fruit was on the lateral branches 
of this triple growth, it was on the outside 
sprigs. Not being familiar with the terms that 
are used by experts, I give it to you in my 
plain language. There is the center shoot, and 
then there will be three more start out, the 
center one continuing, and two laterals and so 
on, until you have to cut back very materially 
in order to get into your tree and keep it 
uniform in shape. I therefore commence to cut 
away the central, the wood growing stems, to 
prevent it becoming too large and thereby I 
would preserve the fruit growing limbs and 
keep my tree in a symmetrical form and govern 
the growth by that system of pruning, whereas 
a hand not accustomed to that and not under- 
standing it would grow up a tree and cut it off 
wherever he chose, or where it was most conve- 
nient to get in to use his knife, and you will ob- 
serve it would be at the expense of the fruit 
producing branches if it was pruned in that 
way. So I find it is a very essential point for 
our orange-growers to understand, and I think 
if they look at their trees a moment they will 
find that I am substantially correct. They will 
find if there is any fruit, it will be on those lat- 
erals almost invariably, and the center, as I 
say, would be the wood-producing stem or limb. 
Now, the reason why the wood grows more rap- 
idly on the northern exposure, to my mind, is 
in consequence of this shade. The heat of the 
sun in this portion of the State is so great, par- 
ticularly upon the southern exposure, that the 
flow of the sap must necessarily be impeded, 
and the fruit upon the southern exposure smaller 
than it is on the northern exposure; hence the 
necessity of cutting more wood away upon the 
northern exposure than on the southern. Those 
things we cannot have disregarded by our hired 
help except at our expense. 

Addresses for the Next Convention. 

On motion it is resolved that the following 
gentlemen be requested to prepare papers to 
present to the next annual convention on the 
following subjects: 

Dr. 0. B. Congar on the subject of the "Prun- 
ing of the Citrus Fruit;" Mr. J. Shinn, on the 
"Apple;" W. W. Smith, of Vacaville, on the 
"Peach;" F. C. DeLong, of Marine, on the 
"Foreign Shipment of Apples;" Mr. A. T. 
Hatch, on the "Almond;" Mr. I. A. Wilcox, 
of Santa Clara, on the "Strawberry and all 
Small Fruits, except the Currant;" Mr. Elwood 
Cooper, on the "Olive, the Manufacture of 
Olive Oil and the Walnut;" W. H. Aiken, of 
Santa Cruz mountains on the "French Prune;" 
James Bettner, of Riverside, on the "Produc- 
tion of the Orange and the Various Kinds;" 
Robort McPherson, of McPherson Bros., on the 
"Raisin;" Prof. Husmann, of Napa, on the 
"Quince and the Best Shipping Grapes;" G. N.. 
Milco, of Stockton, on the "Cultivation and 
Preparation for Market of the Fig;" Mr. Chas. 
W. Reed, of Sacramento, on the "Best Ship- 
ping Fruits, Aside from the Grape;" Mr. Geo. 
M. Grey, of Chico, on the "Pear and the 
Cherry;" Dr. Kimball, of Alameda county, on 
the "Apricot," W. M. Williams, of Fresno, on 
the "Nectarine;" H. P. Livermore, of San 
Francisco, on the "Market and the Marketing 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



75 



for the current year;" A. F. Coronel, the com- 
missioner of the Loa Angeles district, on the 
"White Scale, the Icerya purchasi;'" Mr. W. S. 
Chapman of San Gabriel, on the "Shipping of 
Lemons;" John Rock, of San Jose, on "Nur- 
sery Stock;" Dr. S. R. Chandler, of Yuba City, 
on the "Planting and Pruning of deciduous 
fruit trees;" H. W. Meek, of San Lorenzo, on 
the "Plum;" Gen. John Bidwell, of Chico, on the 
"History of Fruit Culture in California;" Dr. 
H. W. Harkness, on "Fungoid Diseases;" 
Frank Kimball, on the "Pickling of Olives;" J. 
A. Day, of Ventura county, on the "Apricot 
and Drying of the Same, and Packing it for 
Market;" T. J. Swain, of San Diego, on the 
"Guava;" Hon. Geo. Stoneman, on the "Pome- 
granate;" J. M. Hixson, on the "Pieplant and 
Early Shipping Vegetables." 

Mr. I. A. Wilcox, of Santa Clara, oflfera the 
following resolution, which, on motion, is 
adopted: 

Whereas, The reports of general produce mar- 
kets sent out by the Asscoiated Press are of great 
value to producers and to the general public. 
Therefore, be it resolved, that the manager of the 
Associated Press be requested to g've his attention to 
the gathering and transaction of such reports relat- 
ing to the markets for California green and dried 
fruits, and thus confer a great benefit upon the fruit 
industry and business interests generally. 

The convention adjourned until evening at 
the usual hour. 

Cultivation and Pruning. 

At the afternoon session on Friday the chair 
announced the topic, " The Cultivation and 
Pruning, and the Time to Prune Fruit Trees." 

Mr. Garey: I would like to make a few re- 
marks in regard to the theories advanced by 
Dr. Congar today as to the best method of 
pruning orange and lemon trees, the orange es- 
pecially. The doctor's particular point in re- 
gard to pruning the orange tree was, that he 
had discovered that the twigs of the tree or 
the limb grows in triplets; that is, as the limb 
grows out there are three branches, one straight 
branch and one on either side, and that he 
has found by investigation that the two side 
branches are the fruit bearing branches, and 
that the leading branch is the wood branch. 
Now, I would like to know if any other orange- 
grower knows anything about that. I have 
never noticed it, and I think that my experi- 
ence in that matter would not bear out that 
theory. I believe that the leading limb is as 
liable to have fruit upon it as the side branches; 
however, I wouldn't be quite certain about it, 
for I have not noticed it very particularly. 
But I tell you where I believe that pruning 
would be bad if followed up systematically, as 
he suggests. If at the commencement of the 
bearing of the orange tree the process was 
commenced, and the plan carried out, your 
orange tree in a few years would amount prac- 
tically almost to a hedge. It would present 
pretty much the same appearance that a cy- 
press hedge has when pruned continuously, and 
would throw out small branches until it became 
almost compact. I have an idea that it would have 
a tendency to thicken up too much, and the main 
object in the pruning of the orange tree is to 
thin out the branches on the inside, in order to 
admit all the air and sunlight that is possible. 
You can't do it too much; the orange tree bears 
altogether on the outside of the tree. Whether 



they bear just on these side branches or not, 
I am not prepared to say, but it certainly is on 
the outside. When you walk under a tree you 
will see but very little fruit, but on the outside 
the tree will be a mass of fruit. 

In the pruning of the orange tree, as I said 
in my essay, there are two systems followed in 
this country, one called lower pruning and the 
other called higher pruning. Some allow their 
orange trees to grow from the ground, don't 
raise them at all, and scarcely ever thin them 
out; others raise them gradually, from year to 
year, until a horse can be driven under the 
limbs, in order to cultivate them close around 
the trunk, and I believe it is generally consid- 
ered that that is the best, but there is a great 
diversity of opinion on this matter, and a great 
many ways of doing it. One thing is certain: 
we must prune our orange trees in such a man- 
ner that we can get at them pretty easily and 
thin them out pretty well, because if they are 
not, when the black scale or other scales make 
their appearance, we cannot get rid of it at all. 
You must have it very open and thin, then it 
you wish to spray, it is an easy job to clean the 
tree easily, and the tree has a tendency to clean 
itself. 

Dr. Lotspeitch: I can speak of the orange 
tree when I cannot speak of any other kind 
of trees. The best plan to make a tree, is to 
commence in the nursery. When the young 
tree is there it should be formed but a little at 
the lower portion. It forms in the shape of a 
tree after awhile, and when it is taken from 
the nursery it should be set out as well as you 
can possibly put it in the ground. My idea 
and practice has been this: to wet the ground 
thoroughly in the nursery, take the tree up 
when the ground is thoroughly soaked with 
water, that will give you a tap-root perhaps 
four or five feet long. Well, a man will say, 
1 can't dig a hole four or five feet long to put 
the tap-root in, so cut it off. I say no; never 
cut it off. An orange tree two years old has 
good lateral roots also, and they can all be 
pulled out of this soft muddy earth. To dig 
the hole so as to lay out all these roots would 
be an everlasting task, but you can take a 
crowbar and make a hole a few feet deep for 
the tap-root, and you can also make your holes 
on either side to receive those lateral roots. 
Put them in in that way, then set the tree and 
cover it in with soil and run water immediately 
around it. Cultivate it well for the first sea- 
sou, run the water very closely to it, then trim 
it but very slightly, never cut back very much 
of the outside limbs. The second year you 
trim it a little higher, and little by little, year 
after year, go up; never trim to a bushy top; 
leaving the lateral limbs touching the ground 
almost, but always keep them just off the 
ground, so as to keep insects from crawling up 
on the branches. In the course of six or seven 
years, perhaps, you would have the trunk of 
the tree two feet or so, and the limbs would 
be eighteen inches, perhaps, from the ground. 
Never let an orange tree or any other tree grow 
too high, if you can prevent it, without in- 
juring the growth of the tree. Keep it pruned 
out carefully, the outside of the tree and in- 
side. Make your ditches so that you can run 
water within three feet of the tree — that is 
close enough to run water around an orange 
tree, and have your machinery so rigged that 
your horses can walk between the trees up 



76 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



here and the furrow will be under the tree. 
By low training you have your fruit so that 
you can stand on the ground and pick it all 
around, instead of having ladders twenty five 
feet long to go up on the tree, or have a dis- 
tance of five or ten feet from the ground before 
you get an orange. That is my opinion; still 
there may be better ways of cultivating a tree. 
But a tree that is not trimmed up to make a 
high tree, will make a heavier stock and a bet- 
ter bush than the tree that is trimmed up, and 
the fruit that is grown on it grows just as 
good and better than that which is grown on 
top, because the wind is not slashing it around 
and scratching the oranges and making them 
unfit for market. Those that are near the 
ground are as fine oranges as we ever find. 

Mr, Girey: How do you cultivate the tree 
for the six or seven years? 

Dr. Lotspeitch: We take a Buckeye sulky 
plow and we have a seven-foot cultivator, 
that we call a " tarantula cultivator," and we 
attach that to the Buckeye sulky and ride 
along and cultivate. You can go along on one 
side, cultivating clear up under the tree. You 
can run it right up against the tree, if you 
wish to run that close. That is the way we 
cultivate under the tree, and we have irees 
that are ten or fifteen feet across. 

Mr. Garey : How do you get rid of the 
gophers ? 

Dr. Lotspeitch: You could not have found a 
gopher among our trees in two years. 

Mr. Garey: How do you get to spray the 
tree under these circumstances? 

Dr. Lotspeitch: I u e a No. 1 Hooker pump 
and I have a 4^-foot lever on it, and 50 feet of 
hoae, and I puncture a slit in the disk that I put 
on the San Jose sprayer. The bole I puncture 
is oblong, about the same as you could put the 
point of a pin in. Then we put two men in the 
wagon with a tank and they work the pump in 
the wagon. The pumpers will pump seven to 
eight hundred gallons ot water through these 
two sprays in a day. I have on the end of our 
hose 10 feet of one-half inch iron pipe; the 
nozzle is on the end of and then we commence ; 
and if we want to spray a tree of the kind you 
speak of we just get right down underneath, on 
our knees, and we go through the inside care- 
fully and we take it all around, running it from 
one side to the other, and we pass up, out and 
around that tree. I have the greasiest suit of 
clothes you ever saw in your life; that is what 
I wear when I spray, and I spray every year. I 
sprayed this year three times in parts of my or- 
chard, and I have watched it and been with 
every tank that goes into the field. That is the 
way a man has to do if he sprays thoroughly, 
and that is the way I have sprayed our trees. 
It is a very nice job when it is well done. 

Mr. Cooper: About how many gallons to the 
tree do you use ? 

Dr. Lotspeitch: I can answer that; a seven- 
year old orange that is grown well of the Medi- 
terranean Sweet variety, will take 6^ gallons 
to a tree; a seedling tree of the same age, well 
grown, takes 15 gallons ; you can take a Rio 
tree that is not quite so large, and it takes a little 
less. 

Mr. Garey: How many of the Rio variety 
have you? 

Dr. Lotspeitch: About 500 Rios. 

Mr. Garey: How do they differ from the 
Mediterranean Sweet ? 



Dr. Lotspeitch: Just about as a black oak 
tree would differ from a white oak tree. There 
is a very different appearance of the limbs; they 
grow out differently. The orange is very simi- 
lar to the Mediterranean Sweet, but the differ- 
ence is in the growth of the trees. They are 
more rapid growers; they are not bushy trees; 
they throw out young lateral limbs and they 
will thrust out a sprout when they are growing, 
and from four to six right at the end of it. The 
Mediterranean Sweets will never do it — just 
like the seedling oranges. 

Dr. Kimball: I hardly feel myself competent 
to say anything in regard to the orange ques- 
tion, but Ert the same time I ought to have an 
opinion about it. In 1871 I sent to the Islands 
and obtained several crates of oranges that 
were picked ripe, for purposes of getting the 
perfected seed in order to start an orange nur- 
sery in Alameda county. I had been pre- 
viously down in this county two or three years 
before, and thought very favorably of orange 
culture. I raised trees from mj' seed and after 
they got to be about two feet high I took them 
out of the ground and transplanted them, cut- 
ting off the tap root and set them out in nur- 
sery rows. When they were about four years 
old I budded quite a large number of them 
with the Acapulco and some few with the 
Navel orange that I obtained from Washing- 
ton, D. C, and when I got ready to transplant 
them, as they were quite large, vigorous trees, 
I had a ditch dug between every other row 
and a spade run under each tree, cutting off the 
tap root, and I ascertained from the way that 
they acted in the future that it was an impor- 
tant thing to follow out the natural inclination 
of the tree. They were bound to have a tap 
root, and where I cut the tap root off there im- 
mediately started down two or three more; 
they were bound to go down. In trimming 
them up, I have observed particularly what 
agrees with Dr. Cougar's theory of the growth 
of the orange. I noticed that when I cut out 
the center branch the effact is to stimulate the 
development of the fruit buds on the other 
branches, because to a certain extent it checks 
the growth of the tree; and I have been struck 
with the peculiar difference of the orange tree 
from any other tree in regard to this develop- 
ment, partly on one side and partly on the 
other. It has been one of the greatest studies 
that I have had, how to prune the orange tree, 
and I don't know that I have decided on a 
positive plan yet. 

But, in regard to deciduous trees, to change 
the question, most all of our deciduous fruit 
trees put out a spring growth. We have two 
growths in Alameda county, the spring growth 
and the September growth. The first growth 
is the direct growth and central growth, and 
afterward the side growths come in, the lateral 
branches, and if you cut off the central branch 
then you abnormally develop the others, and it 
seems to me that nature's way is the best way, 
that it is the only true way that we should 
follow, and that is to cut them all back when 
we trim and leave the central one a little in 
advance of the others, to let every lateral 
branch of the tree in a certain sense be a 
main branch by itself, I do not wish to be 
misunderstood, because in every tree there is a 
main branch in the center, the standard, but 
there are always these other branches, and the 
proper way to trim, the way that suits me the 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



V 



best and that I have the best success with in 
all the trees that I plant (and I cultivate 
almonds, apricots, peaches, pears, plums and 
cherries), is to follow out that plan of nature's 
and when you trim leave the central branch a 
little the longest. Don't Cut it out, because 
nature is bound to go ahead, and instead of 
having one center branch you have a bunch of 
laterals of which each one tries to be the center, 
and the result will be that your tree will be too 
bushy, too broomy. I do not put myself in the 
position of instructor about pruning or trim- 
ming, because I believe that the intelligent man 
is governed by the circumstances and conditions 
of trees that he is working up, and that he 
will vary according to the circumstances. I 
don't think there is any iron clad law that 
can be laid down in trimming trees. I see the 
best results in growing all kinds of fruits by all 
classes of men by thinning out their trees, but 
I think, in the main, that nature's way is 
the true way and that we should never cut out, 
never exterminate the center but leave it a 
little in advance of the others and cut back the 
center only in proportion as we cut back the 
laterals. 

On motion it was agreed that in the discussion 
on pruning and culture of trees there be con- 
sidered, first, the apricot, second, the apple, 
third, the pear, fourth, the peach, fifth, prunes 
and plums; that in the discussion 20 minutes 
be devoted to each subject and each speaker be 
limited to five minutes. 

THE APRICOT. 

J. D. Parker, of Orange : The apricot with 
H8 grows much as it does with you in the 
North, and from my experience, and what I 
have read and heard, I find that the tree has a 
tendency to branch out too much and I go 
and give it a summer pruning about the 
last of May, as a rule. I give it a fall 
pruning also, and I cut back within ten 
inches of the old growth; that is, on the 
last ten inches of the new growth on each 
tree. The result was that I got my tree in a 
very compact head, and last fall I thinned it 
out thoroughly and my trees blossomed finely. 
I had a heavy crop for the age of the trees — 
that is, it would be so considered with us. I 
had about 50 tons on the orchard, and trees 
that were not pruned through the valley, a 
great many of them, did not begin to bear any 
such crop. Some did well where they were 
pruned once a year, but my observation goes 
to show that the summer pruning had a great 
tendency to make the fruit earlier, though 
it might have the effect to dwarf the tree in the 
future. If there is ary one here who has had 
any experience of the bad effect of summer 
pruning I would be glad to hear from him. 

Dr. Kimball : I have a small apricot orchard, 
some of it for perhaps 12 to 15 years, and in a 
good year I have from 100 to 140 tons. I 
think, in regard to pruning the apricot tree, the 
old saying will properly apply : "He who 
spares the rod spoils the child." I think it is 
necessary to use the knife freely on the apricot 
tree, first in getting it into proper shape, and 
you all know that it is a tree which is particu- 
larly inclined to overbear, the consequence of 
which is a large quantity of small, inferior 
fruit that you cannot sell to canners at all, and 
which takes a longer time to prepare for dry- 
ing. In raising apricot trees, if you receive 



the trees from the nursery, yearlings or two 
years old, I think that they should be trimmed 
severely for about three years to place them in 
a condition so that they will not split down, 
for I believe that of all the trees that we rear in 
the central part of the State, and perhaps here, 
that the apricot is more inclined to split down 
and be broken by the wind, and be broken by 
its weight of fruit, than any other tree that we 
raise. I have had some trees that I think pro- 
duce from 700 to 1100 pounds of apricots in a 
year, and they are not headed at all; or, I might 
say, headed in a group, two or three limbs di- 
vided right together. In first formiug a tree, 
if you let three buds come out together and 
reach out in different ways, when the trees 
bear heavily they will split down. The tree 
should be shaped, if possible, so as to have one 
leader, one center, and they should be trimmed 
to come out, not at a point of junction, but two 
or three or four inches above or below, and you 
have a symmetrical tree, and without danger of 
breaking down in that way. As I have said 
before, it is necessary, in order to get the best 
results, to thin out thoroughly. I always leave 
these lateral branches from the central branch 
that forms the head of the tree, one coming 
out on the east, one on the west, one on the 
north and one on the south; trim them similarly 
as you do the center, and you have then a 
symmetrical tree. Of course, the apricot tree 
should be severely cut, because if you let the 
tree fruit, and if you trim it too close, hedge- 
like form, you will have a large quantity of 
fruit of an inferior quality. But if you cut back 
to the three lateral branches, besides the main 
center, keep it thoroughly thinned out, and 
when you cut off the ends of the limbs of a 
year's growth do not let it be too broomy, by 
that way you save the process of going through 
your trees and thinning them so much, for in 
our section of the country we not only have to 
trim our trees sharply, but go through and pull 
off the fruit 

Mr. Milco: A friend of mine in Stanislaus 
county has a little orchard of five acres and 
about three years ago I was visiting him, and 
looking at his orange and almond trees. They had 
made a wonderful growth, great fine trees, but 
no fruit on them. He wanted to know how it 
was possible to make those trees bear. I asked 
him what he was doing to them, and he said he 
gave them all the water they needed. I told 
him to go to work and root prune them. About 
eight feet from the trees dig down all around 
and cut off all the roots and see what that would 
do. The result is that he is having the trees 
loaded down with bunches of beautiful looking 
oranges. I was over there about three months 
ago, and it was a delightful thing to see those 
trees bear. In my judgment the best time to 
root prune is during the rainy season, say in 
January or February. In pruning apricots on 
our place, and we have something like 40 acres 
of young trees, We find that when they are se- 
verely pruned there is much gum on them and 
I believe that severe pruning has caused it. 
However, our trees are young and we cannpt 
tell whether that is the cause or not. 

A Delegate: I would ask Dr. Kimball if he 
believes in snmmer pruning of the apricot? 

Dr. Kimball: If there is danger of the tree 
growing so fast as to grow very much out of 
shape, as apricots sometimes do, I would use 
the knife to put it in shape. The apricot is the 



78 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



most wonderful grower I think, ot any tree we 
have. If I find its limbs commence growing 
down instead of growing up, I would cut those 
off, but we do most of our pruning in winter. 

Mr. Bettner: Summer pruning of the apricot 
is done veiv largely at Riverside. It is the 
universal practice there of all the apricot-grow- 
ers to cut back the trees in summer, directly 
after the crop is picked; some also prune in 
winter additionally, but not all of them. The 
main pruning is done in the summer time, after 
the crop is gathered; that is the result of the 
experience there for a number of years. 

Ira F.White, ofVacaville: The same custom 
is pursued in Vacaville. We deem it an advan- 
tage to the tree and to the fruit the next year 
to summer prune. 

Mr. Shinn: There is something more to be 
done in the way of pruning the apricot. It has 
such a tendency to split down the limbs. If 
you notice any young orchard of apricots, you 
will probably find that the first year they are 
planted out they do pretty well. The next 
year, if you let them alone, with no effort to 
check them much, they make a most tremend- 
ous growth, perhaps greate-r than any other 
tree we have. If they be planted just as you 
get them from the nursery, a considerable num- 
ber of them will split to pieces and be greatly 
damaged. That could be avoided almost en- 
tirely by making a proper selection of the tree 
when you plant it. Do not buy trees that do 
not have single stem with strong, nearly hori- 
zontal laterals. If you do that you will have 
no trouble about it. I think the apricot should 
be pruned almost the same as any other tree the 
first year. It should be pruned with reference 
to its symmetrical and proper shape. When it 
comes to be a tree, if you find it is going to 
split, and you can find it out easily enough by 
the looks of the tree, where the crotches are 
pointed, cut off one limb or cut it back. I 
never summer prune apricot, except for the 
purpose of avoiding that splitting. They will 
bear enough without summer pruning in all 
cases I know anything about. 

J. Begg: I have understood from remarks 
made here that pruning is haphazard business. 
It is nothing of the kind; it is thoroughly a sci- 
entific business, aud there is a proper way to 
prune every variety of fruit. I will say in ref- 
erence to the apricot, that the gentlemen are 
all right and all wrong. It is right to prune 
the apricot in summer to a small extent, but 
then again, if you prune it severely and prune 
the larger limbs, it is necessary to defer the 
pruning until winter, and then you thin out 
the bigger limbs of the apricot. That is the 
proper and judicious way to prune the apricot. 
The apricot is generally allowed to have the 
branches too thick; it is the universal fault in 
California, not only with the apricot, but every 
variety of deciduous trees; they leave two-thirds 
too many branches on the trees. The sugges- 
tion I would give, as how to prune the apricot, 
would be to head it back in summer and then 
prune out the bigger branches in winter. 

Mr. Wilcox: So far as pruning the apricot, 
my general rule is like this: If the tree has 
made a very vigorous growth, I will cut it off 
any time in the year; but if it has made a short 
growth I would not check its growth: I would 
leave that to winter; this rule applies to all 
pruning so far as I know. 

1. H. Thomas: To prevent splitting I bore 



a hole and put a bolt in and screw it up tight. 
It will do you no injury, that is, after I have 
got a large tree. 

Mr. Garey: Down here, from our experience 
with apricots, the trees have a tendency to be 
shy bearers; they are shy bearers as a rule. 
Some varieties like the Moorpark, it is almost 
impossible to get to bear under any circum- 
stances. It is unlike some other varieties which 
are pretty fair bearers if we prune them in 
summer. I see by the remarks here that the 
tendency of the apricot at the North is to over- 
bear; that is not the case with ua; the trouble 
is to get them to bear. We have to aid them 
by summer pruning. 

Mr. Begg: I do not think it is a good idea 
to put the summer pruning off too late. I 
notice in Fresno county some have put off the 
apricot pruning too late. They have a system of 
summer pruning by heading it off a little, and 
the trees make a growth of two or three inches 
between that and fall and some of them being 
tender, the first frost coming in the fall nips 
them. I think if summer pruning is practiced 
it should be done early, about the time you 
take the fruit off. If the tree is not in fruitage 
whenever you have got a growth of 18 inches 
in the spring of the year, then summer prune, 
because if you wait until the next year you will 
do that any how and then you will advance the 
tree very near a year on the young tree before 
it commences to bear. 

Mr. Wilcox: Summer pruning, or anything 
that checks the flow of sap, tends to produce 
fruit, whether it is root pruning or tying the 
limbs down, or summer pruning; and no tree 
will fruit when it is growing very vigorously. 

THE] APPLE. 

W. H. Aiken : I am a little interested in 
this subject, still I don't know much about it, 
although I have made a study of it for about 
ten years. In the first place, I don't believe in 
this high trimming of an apple tree. I believe 
in low trimming for the purpose of protecting 
the bark from the sun, and for the purpose of 
being able to get at your trees to prune and to 
pick your fruit. It will ma he a handsomer 
tree; it will bear more fruit and will be 
healthier, because the lower limbs throw a good 
deal of sap, and I notice the apples on the 
lower limbs are large and fine. I know in a 
block of Yellow Newtown Pippin trees, I put 
them out and cut them back pretty low and 
they came out well and are very handsome 
three-year-old trees now. I built them out 
with limbs on each side, pruned them back next 
year so as to strengthen the limbs, strengthen 
the elbow, and endeavor to get limbs enough on 
to make a good tree. The Newtown Pippin 
has a small leaf. We have to put a good many 
limbs into it, for the reason that it is a very up- 
right grower and has to have the leaves to shade 
its fruit, and we find that although it may ap- 
pear too thick, when it bears it opens up and 
makes a very healthy, prosperous tree. It has 
bearing strength; the limbs do not come down, 
they have been pruned back so that they have 
grown large and strong from the limb, or the 
elbow, and hold the fruit up. I have tried the 
method of allowing the tree to grow without 
any pruning at all. With the Newtown Pippin 
it is fatal, for the reason the tree will throw up 
one, two or three limbs, and they will keep 
growing up in the air without lateral branches, 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



and the apples will be burned by the sun, and 
I have never been able in that way to raise 
apples of good form, size or color. Some other 
apples, like the Baldwin, are very strong, 
healthy, large-growing trees, and that, of 
course, needs some pruning, although not so 
much as the Newtown Pippin. It is a very 
good tree, and the apple is a very good apple. 
The Pearmain apple that I have noticed here, I 
have no doubt must grow on strong, well- 
formed trees, for the reason that one of these 
Pearmain apples on the tar end of a long limb 
would break it. The gre.it point in apple rais- 
ing is to make a strong, well-developed tree 
with bearing strength and bearing space, and 
then thin the apples so that they will grow in 
marketable form, siz.^ and color. I don't think 
that some of those large apples that you have 
here are exactly marketable. If many of them 
were ono-half as large they would undoubtedly 
bring more money. It is not necessary to raise 
abnormally large fruit; the main object is to 
raise an ordinary fair-sized lot of fruit. That 
is my opinion in regard to apples, and there is 
no difficulty in doing it, because if they tend 
to grow too large you can allow more to grow 
upon the tree and they will come down in 
size. 

Mr. Wilcox: The Yellow Newtown Pippin 
has about three branches that grow very near 
together when they start, and in order to make 
a good tree after they get up a ways, you must 
prune off the buds that start out all around all 
the time, for they encroach upon each other. 
That rule does not apply to al' apples; the 
White Winter Pearmain I never prune at all. 
If you let run it has a healthy body, and if you 
cut off the ends of the limbs you lose the fruit. 
The Baldwin don't need much trimming with 
me, and yet with some soils they grow heavier 
than they do in others. The Northern Spy, 
which was a great favorite apple in New York, 
became a favorite of mine, and I planted a great 
many a number of years ago, before we had the 
railroad, and I became disgusted with the fruit 
business, and cut them down and put out small 
fruit. I am turning around now and planting 
trees. I believe that no general fixed rule can 
be given, but the man who is observing looks 
at his tree and its buds will find what it needs 
to secure the best results. 

Mr. Barry: I will state that very few people 
in this country prune the Pearmain at all; they 
let it grow. 

A Delegate: Do you prune any of your apple 
trees? " -> rt- 

Mr. Berry: Not very much, but I know the 
Pearmains are not pruned unless a sucker grows 
up. They may be taken off, but many growers 
do not even do that. 

Mr. Bettner: It won't do to cut the trees 
off. If you do you won't get any tree at all. 
Some strong varieties may be improved by cut- 
ting them back; others it would not do at all. 
This is especially the case in the interior val- 
leys, where it is warmer than on the coast. 
The result of it is, if you winter prune trees 
the sap seems to be checked, and that limb 
amounts to nothing. On my own place I sim- 
ply practice thinning out. If the tree grows 
too bushy and throws too much shade, I sim • 
P'y thin out. I do not cut back the apple 

Mr Wilcox: An apple tree, like any other 
wee, has the body above ground, and corre- 



79 

spending with that below, and, like any other 
tree if it strikes hardpan it don't throw out 
much top, and does not need much pruning 
As a general rule, that tree that grows very full 
will grow deep. j- '"" 

Mr. Stone, of Compton: I have had some 
little experience in farming here. I took the 
trees when they were two years old and set 
them out and trimmed the trunk up about four 
and one-half feet high, and then the next year 
when the limbs grew out, I cut them back so 
as to cause the big stout limbs to form the top 
and the inside was pretty well cleaned out la 
that way I have got trees reaching out in this 
way [showing], and I can drive a small horse 
below the tree to cultivate, and cultivate 
right up with a''V" harrow, if necessary. 
This IS the kind of fruit I grow [showing a very 
large apple]. It is not like that on all the 
trees, but it is on those trees that have not been 
bearing much. I have not cut the tops off very 
much after they got to be three years old, after 
they were set out, which, with two years in the 
nursery, makes them five-year-old trees By 
that time that I have got the tree in shape, but 
as they are now I have had on some of those 
trees, perhaps 15 props to hold up the fruit I 
grow apples, such as that on trees perhaps 25 
feet high— as pretty shaped trees as can possi- 
bly be seen. 

Mr. Milton Thomas: I wish to say in reply 
to Mr. Aiken that around Los Angeles we 
prune our apple trees regularly and systemat- 
ically. I have had some experience, and claim 
to have planted more apple trees than any man 
in Southern California, and have raised as 
many apples and had a wider experience; and 
I say that we prune regularly and prune system- 
atically, so much so that in my orchard we 
have many loads of brush to haul every year 
or two. I do not see how a man can raise ap- 
pies without pruning his trees systematically 
»°.uP'^".?x"^ ^^^"^ vigorously. Of course, the 
W.hite Winter Pearmain is the best apple that 
we raise here. We do not prune it as much as 
other trees because it does not require it 
The fruit usually is borne close to 
the limbs and branches of the tree, and not 
on the ends of the limbs as in some other va- 
rieties. In planting out an orchard I plant out 
one-year-old trees— five or six feet high, say 
when I plant them, and cut them off to— say 
four or three and one-half feet— and then I al- 
low a head to commence, and rub off all the 
branches that come out below tsvo feet. Then 

I have those lateral branches extending out 

just as many as I want— and there will not be 
those crotches or forks. There will be lateral 
branches, and there is not much danger of 
those breaking. The next year I prune back 
some of those branches— all of them some— and 
every year, till they get to bearing, prune some 
off, so that I have a branch large enough and 
stocky enough to bear fruit. I think we should 
prune apples; and I know around Los Angeles 
there are hundreds— I might almost say thous- 
ands—of loads hauled off our orchard and given 
to Chinamen for fuel, or burned up. 

Mr. Begg: Are any of the apple orchards in 
the southern part of the State affected in this 
way : eighteen or twenty inches of the ends 
of the limbs refusing to leaf out with perfect 
leaves, and the following season the limb dies 
down to where the healthy limb would put 
out? We have that disease in some orchards 



8o 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



through the valley. The limbs have been 
placed under a strong magnifymg glass; there 
is no insect on them. For 18 or 20 inches on 
the top of the tree it will be, prob- 
ably, a half-sized leaf during the season, and 
the following season it will die back about 18 
inches, and at the point where it dies a healthy 
sprout will start out and grow up and make a 
terminal leaf. 

A. Delegate: I believe that is owing to the 
soil. Here in this portion of Los Angeles 
county some are troubled very much with al- 
kali, and sometimes the trees will grow that 
way — that is the only way I can account for it. 

Mr. Gray: At Chico we are troubled some- 
thing that way, with the limbs not coming out 
fully. I noticed especially a young orchard 
three years old. Last summer there was a few 
scattering trees that sometimes would have the 
whole top of the tree affected, and other times 
on one side the leaves would be full sized, good, 
strong, healthy leaves and the other half of 
the tree about half size, and I know it will die 
next year. I thought it was probably alkali: 
that was my opinion of it, but I examined very 
closely, thinking it might be some insect at 
work either on the limb or on the tree, but I 
could not find it there. 

Mr. Begg: I experimented on one tree. 
There was no alkali soil where it was. It was 
a White Winter Pearmain. I cut it down to a 
bare pole, thinking I could overcome it. That 
tree made a growth of six or eight feet that 
season. The next season the same thing oc- 
curred in the top of the tree, and I finally dug 
the tree up. Strong pruning did it no good. 

THE PEAR. 

Mr. Thomas: My trees, perhaps, dififer from 
any other, but our treatment is about the same 
as with the apple. Our year-old trees are usu- 
ally four to six feet high. We plant them and 
we cut ofi' the top and leave only — say two feet 
in hight — and then you can have six or eight.or 
ten branches come out. The next year you 
should cut back two-thirds, particularly if 
they are Bartlett pears. If you don't prune 
systematically and thoroughly, and prune 
every year the trees overbear and ruin them- 
selves. My idea is to prune back every year, 
and make your trees and branches stocky, so 
that they may be enabled to bear the fruit 
when they come into bearing. They com- 
mence bearing usually about the fourth year, 
sometimes the third year. To have our pear 
trees so that they will bear a full crop, prune 
them back and make the branches and trees 
stocky, 80 that there will be no question about 
their being able to bear the fruit and not break 
all to pieces, as I have seen the Bartlett pear 
particularly. 

A Delegate: Do you cut the limbs, or cut the 
ends off ? 

Mr. Wilcox: The BarMett pears on the ends. 
I cut them as I do a Newton Pippin — I cut 
them with the idea of getting the head, until I 
get them started up. The more tops you can 
get the more fruit you will get. For the first 
few years you throw the strength into the tree, 
you lose no fruit, and lose nothing except in the 
time in which it gets to bearing. That ia my ex- 
perience with that fruit. 

Mr. Shinn: I think that the general princi- 
ples of pruning apply to almost all fruits — cer- 
tainly to the apple, pear and plum — and I 



think Mr. Thomas has very correctly stated 
the general plan which should be followed 
when trees are planted out. The main object, 
as I said before, with young trees is to so trim 
as to make a well shaped head; do not prune 
with reference to fruit until they begin to bear 
freely. I always tell everybody to leave the 
strongest bud on the wind side, and the strong- 
est root you will have will be on the wind side. 
Rub ofi" all you don't want; if you want tour, 
have four; if two is enough let them grow — let 
them grow a year. I certainly never practiced 
summer pruning in trees of that class, but do 
not let more branches grow than you care 
about having, considering what will be the fu- 
ture of the tree. Next year cut back. There 
are various views about that, but 1 uhould cut 
back within 10 or 11 inches. When they ^tart 
out on each branch they will start out two 
shoots. You may wait until they have started 
and do the same thing; rub off as many as you 
do not want, still referring to the kind of tree 
you want, and remembering also that you must 
manage a tree according to its character. If it 
is a Rhode Island Greening apple tree you need 
not be very much disturbed about its running 
up out of reach, and you must prune with ref- 
erence to that; you must understand the char- 
acter of the trees and prune so as to throw the 
branches upwards. But suppose it is a Bartlett 
pear, then you go on a totally different method. 
The object, as Mr. Wilcox suggests, is to 
spread it. If you don't it will run up so nar- 
row that it won't have much value to it. You 
must leave the buds on, on the outside, then 
you must force it so as to throw out more 
branches, and in that way you will keep on 
say for about three years. If you keep prun- 
ing the tree upon that plan you will have a nice 
big tree. It is troublesome to get a fine head 
on the Winter Nelis, but if you don't prune too 
much as you do the others, the tree will 
straighten itself up and finally be a pretty good 
shaped tree. 

Mr. Strong: I have been told that the Winter 
Nelis tree requires heavy pruning to make it 
bear. Now I have got a number of Winter 
Nelis trees, eight years old, perhaps, but not 
large trees. There are some of them probably 
20 feet high, and they have not borne much yet; 
probably the most any of them have borne thia 
year has been an average of a box and a-half to 
the tree. They are covered with blossoms, but 
I don't get the fruit. I have been trimming 
very much. Two years ago I cut six to eight 
feet from the tops of them but in place of get- 
ting less growth I think in one year it was bigger 
than it was before. I don't know what to do 
with it; some people say you have got to let 
them alone until they get through growing and 
then they will bear. Those trees have been 
growing from four to six feet on top, getting 
way up. As I said the year I cut them most 
they grew more than they did any year before, 
but this year they have stopped growing those 
big growths and have put out a lot of little ends 
which grew out about six inches. Some say 
that is an indication that next year they will 
bear; I do not know anything about it; perhaps 
some of these gentlemen who are posted in rais- 
ing Winter Nelis can inform me about it. 

Mr. Berry: I would like to ask any gentle- 
man here from Southern California, whether 
they have had a crop of pears? 

Mr. Bettner: I have pears bearing splendidly. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



Mr. Berry: Down where I live, in the fur- 
ther part of the county, it is impossible to grow 
a crop at all. For three years we put out pear 
trees; they have budded out and that is all 
they have done since. So far as the pear crop 
is concerned I doubt very much whether Los 
Angeles county will ever be able to touch the 
other part of the State. I have never found 
anybody in our section of the country who 
grows pears at all, and we began digging them 
all up. 

A Delegate: Is your soil strongly impreg- 
nated with alkali ? I saw a tree the other day 
that was nearly dead: it was attributed to that. 
Mr. Berry: There is a gentleman living two 
miles from me whose trees grow very vigorous- 
ly but do not bear any fruit. I do not know 
whether he had any alkali in his land or not. 

Mr. Bettner: I can say that my soil, where 
I have my pears, is low sandy loam, and they do 
not bear so well on the heavier soil. I don't 
think they bear so well on the wet soil in our 
locality. The Winter Nelis with me grows very 
strongly. They do not make a robust, thick 
limb, or thick sprout, but they send out very 
long, willowy sprouts, and a great many of 
them, and they need shortening back very 
much, and pruning, as suggested by Mr. Shinn. 
I have pruned my trees very systematically in 
that way, and I have very good, sightly trees, 
and they bear as fully of fruit as they well can. 
Half a mile away the trees will not bear nearly 
so well. Perhaps it is on different soil. 

Mr. Wilcox: So far as the Winter Nelis is 
concerned I have a tree 16 or 17 years old. It 
bears pears about as large as you see on exhibi- 
tion here, but I never raised over a box and a 
half. When I began at my place I thought I 
would plant Winter Nelis. It is the best pear 
we have when it is successful, but it is a very 
delicate pear. The blossoms are so tender that 
the least storm in the spring or cold will de- 
stroy them. My trees were all full of blossoms 
last year and the year before, but after finding 
their character out and the experience of others 
with them, I shall cut the trees down and graft 
them over. We have large orchards of Winter 
Nelis, and we have all come to the same conclu- 
sion. Mr. Block, one of the largest shippers, 
has cut his off and put in some other kind. 
Wliere the Winter Nelis does well, is where the 
roots don't grow too deep, and where you do 
not get too much top. The Easter Beurre 
grows in naturally damp, cold soil. The Win- 
ter Nelis does not owe its want of bearing to 
the alkali in the soil, because this complaint is 
so general. Sometimes there are peculiar local 
conditions. Where we have a gorge in the 
mountains through which the air sweeps down 
you find all kinds of fruit suffer, and these local 
conditions, these atmospheric conditions, are 
probably the cause of this tronble. 

Mr. Gray, of Chico: There is no fruit that 
will bring in as much money to the northern 
part of the State, particularly about Chico, as 
the Winter Nelis pear. That has been my ex- 
perience for the last few years. We sell all we 
have at from 2 to 4 cents a pound, and could 
sell P\ore too. We do not have them as those 
exhibited here, and do not want them as large; 
but we have a nice shipping pear for the retail 
trade. They are probably about 2 or 2i 
inches through. We have to prune them there 
a little different from here or the Santa Cruz 
mountains. We have to prune with an idea of 



8i 

making all the shade for each tree that we can 
on account of the very hot summer. The Win- 
ter Nelis gives us a good crop every year, right 
straight along. We have never had a failure 
since I have been there, and it seems to be a 
very profitable tree, yielding from four to seven 
or eight hundred dollars an acre. 

Mr. Sbone: This gentleman on my left 
seemed to leave the impression that we could 
not raise pears. I want to take that cloud off 
his mind if possible. I raise a few Bartlett 
pears myself, and I think I never saw a tree in 
my life that bears as heavily as the Bartlett 
pear does, in this section at least, in Compton. 
My Bartlett pear trees are 8 years old, and I 
sell the fruit off the tree by the pound, and 
they averaged me this year $6 to the tree. 

Mr. I. H. Thomas, of Visalia: My experi- 
ence of pruning Bartlett pears would be to en- 
deavor to cut back the lateral limbs and increase 
the head of the tree by heading back. With 
the Winter Nelis I would leave the lateral 
limbs. I never cut that back at all after the 
second year; let it alone, it goes ahead and 
shapes itself. The only reason you cut out 
limbs is that they may be chafing one another. 
My Winter Nelis, five years old, yielded me six 
boxes to th^ tree. They are not large pears 
but medium size, and the trees have been bear- 
ing well since they were three years old. I do 
not cut out unless they begin to cross limbs 
and are chafing. 

Mr. Wilcox: I know Winter Nelis trees that 
are as high as this room and have never been 
pruned; they are apt to grow right up. There 
is one point not touched here, and that is dis- 
tance apart in planting. Mr. Block, at Santa 
Clara, got his trees so near that the tops run all 
in together; it looks like a labyrinth and his or- 
chard is one continuous mass of fruit on top, 
and it is a difficult matter to drive under the 
trees. Some of them are from 10 to 15 feet 
apart — an old orchard, too. 

Mr. Begg: Having once been in charge of a 
very large pear orchard on the Sacramento 
river, I have had considerable experience in 
pruning the pear, and I will say in reference to 
the Bartlett pear that the tendency of the 
branches of the Bartlett pear is to go up 
straight, and I am going to tell you this about 
pears, gentlemen, and I am making a pretty 
broad assertion, that there is not a pear tree in 
California to-day but is allowed to bear too 
many branches altogether. The Bartlett pear 
grows quite differently from the Winter Nelis. 
It grows into a dense, close head; about two- 
thirds of the wood of the Bartlett pear ought to 
be cut out. The natural habit of the pear tree 
is to grow with a central branch and all pear 
trees ought to be pruned in that direction, and 
it is a thing that ought to be kept in mind al- 
ways, to thin out the pear tree. 

THE PEACH. 

Mr. Gray: I suppose you all think the peach 
tree is so easily raised that there is nothing to 
be said about it, I think that part of the Sac- 
ramento Valley around Chico is as good a 
peach country as there is under the sun. I pre- 
sume that there are other places that other gen- 
tlemen wonld tJiink to be better, but we have 
some very fine samples of peaches there. In 
regard to pruning the peach tree, I will give 
my method, and if there is a better way I would 
like to know it. In setting out trees I cut 



82 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



them oflf two feet high, and trim off every 
thing on the side. The second year, I leave 
them from four to six lateral branches and cut 
them back to six inches long. The next year I 
leave two shoots to each, and cut them back to 
about twelve or fourteen inches. After that I 
cut off one-third of each year's growth, thinning 
out of course, leaving the necessary amount. 
We have one peach orchard, which will be four 
years old the coming January, and this last 
summer we picked something over 225 tons off 
24 acres. Mr. Jessup went through the orchard 
just before he started to New Orleans, and he 
declared that there was not a better orchard in 
the State that had never been irrigated — it has 
not had a drop of irrigation. At his request I 
measured some of the trees before he went 
away, and they were from 4^ to 5 inches 
through the butt, and from 16 to 18 feet 
through the tops, and if any one can turn out a 
better peach story than that, all right. 

Mr. I. H. Thomas: Speaking of growing 
stone fruits, I do not believe there is anybody 
in this State grows better fruit than I do. I 
start them in the nursery, and let them get 18 
inches high, and then stop that upper growth 
and bring out the lateral, and at a year old I 
have got a two-year-old top on the tree. I let 
them grow and make a growth of 8 or 10 feet. 
Then I set them in orchard, cutting them back. 
I watch them, and in June I pinch back again, 
after they have made a growth of 18 inches, 
and then I let them run the rest of the season. 
In the winter I cut them back to about 18 
inches of where I cut in June and so on for 
about two years' growth, and then I increase 
my growth by spreading it, by pinching it from 
where I cut in the fall. After they get about 
four years old I cut back to within 18 inches of 
where I cut it the last time. After that I let it 
take pretty much its own will, it will regulate 
its own growth. After it gets four or five years 
old it does not make the vigorous growth it does 
from one to four years old, then I thin it out, 
and consequently have large peaches. 

Mr. Shinn: That is very much the same as 
suggested by the other gentleman; the only 
thing is he gains apparently one year by cut- 
ting back the nursery trees. Are your custom- 
ers willing to buy that kind of tree ? 

Mr. Thomas: They are not willing to pay 
the freight on that kind of tree, consequently I 
pay the freight on it myself in order to give, 
them a better tree. The trees are very bulky. 
I have limbs on them as big as yearlings and 
couldn't get over 2500 in a car after they are 
baled, and I have to cut the ends of them off in 
order to get them in the car. 

Mr. Wilcox: I had the pleasure of seeing 
some of Mr. Thomas' trees in New Orleans, I 
saw some fruit also at the State Fair before we 
went to New Orleans, and I believe he had the 
nicest peaches in Sacramento at that time, the 
nicest display. But one thing I would like to 
ask: when a tree gets 10 or 12 years old 
whether there will be any vitality in it if grown 
upon the system described ? 

Mr. Thomas: I know bearing trees near 
Visalia that are 30 years old; that is, they were 
bearing trees when I came there in '58. One 
season they will make a big year's growth, and 
in the following season that growth will bear 
fruit in peaches, but they are liable when you 
cut back that way to get a dead streak on the 
southwest side of the tree that will get full of 



borers. They talk about a peach root not being 
long lived; you take an old peach tree 20 years 
old and break it down and it will sprout right 
up from the ground, and will have a healthy 
bearing tree. The root don't seem to be effected, 
it is the body above the ground. 

Curled Leaf. 

Mr. Clark, of Santa Barbara: I have got 
trees that have been bearing, but the curled 
leaf came on and injured them so that I did not 
get any fruit. I would like to hear something 
about that. 

Mr. Shinn: You must do one of two things : 
you must let the fresh sprouts grow up before 
the first of July and bud to something else 
that does not curl, or else dig up the tree en- 
tirely. 

Mr. I. H. Thomas: We did not have much 
curled leaf in the San Joaquin valley this sea- 
son. A year ago we had it much worse than 
ever before. We never had it amount to an 
injury before. My opinion of the curled leaf is 
that the cause is atmospheric. It is true some 
varieties did not curl last season, but 
my opinion is it is atmospheric. I take my or- 
chard, for instance; the ground is certainly as 
wet this season as last season, when it curled so 
badly; in fact, I think the land, if anything, is 
a little wetter, but the season it curled so badly 
we had late rains that came on just as the trees 
were blooming, and we had excessive moist at- 
mosphere for about two weeks; that is all we 
know about the curled leaf. Although the land 
below was a little wetter than the year before, 
I think it was the excessive moisture in the 
atmosphere, when the tree is blooming and the 
leaves coming out, that produced it. The roots 
are the life of the tree; if the roots keep sound, 
what is the matter with the top? 

Mr. Begg: I happened to be at Salt Lake 
about two years ago. They were very much 
troubled with the curled leaf there, and they 
discovered a remedy for the curled leaf; whether 
it will apply to California or not, I couldn't 
say, but it is worth trying, at least. There 
they dig the soil from the roots of the tree, and 
then take a knife and score right up into the 
branches. They say it retards the flow of the 
sap, so that the curled leaf don't take any hold 
of the tree, and as soon as they begin to find 
that the tree is commencing to curl, they do 
that and they say it stops it at once. I wish 
some of you who have peaches would try that 
and report to this convention next year what 
your success is. 

A few words in reference to pruning the 
peach: There is no fruit that you can improve 
so much as the peach by pruning. I will take 
a seedling: A gentleman at Riverside had a lot 
of seedling peaches that he was going to throw 
away, and said the peajches were no good what- 
ever, and he wanted to root them up. I told 
him to wait and let me have a- chance at them 
for one season; I pruned the peach, thinned the 
branches out thoroughly, and what was the re- 
sult? At Colton there is a cannery and they 
make grades ot prices: one-half cent for seed- 
lings, one for mediums, and one and one-half 
cents for the best. My employer got one and 
one-half cents a pound for all the peaches that 
I pruned for him; that is one evidence, and I 
think I can safely say that I can go through a 
peach orchard and double the size of the 
peaches by scientific pruning. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



83 



A Delegate: What time of the year do you 
prune? 

Mr. Begg: In the winter. The winter is 
the proper time to prune the peach; thin out 
the branches; thin out the small branches; have 
them always equi-distant apart, a good distance; 
it will close up before tlie summer is out, and 
then you will have fine peaches, and you will 
have to go around the tree and thin out one-half 
the fruit, and that is the way you treat peaches. 

Mr. Wilcox: I would like to say, in support 
of the idea I advanced, that I think Mr. 
Thomas' place is an exceptional one; I do not 
know of an orchard in this State that has been 
planted 20 years and not pruned, that the trees 
are in good condition. I don't believe there is 
a healthy tree in the State 25 years old that has 
not been pruned, but where Mr. Thomas is he 
has a peculiar kind of a soil, that is naturally 
loose enough, so that the water don't stand on 
it. It is a very favored locality where a man 
can keep a tree alive all the time and not 
prune it. 

Mr. Thomas: I can state there is a sediment- 
ary deposit there in an old channel, and there 
is water in the channel. My young orchard is 
about seven years of age. To grow that or- 
chard to be 20 years old I would certainly go to 
work to head them in and keep that in growth; 
but I do not cut back so severely after my or- 
chard is four or five years old, as I do until I 
get it up to that point, but I cut it back some. 

THE PRUNE. 

Mr, Aiken: To the discussion of the prune 
and plums, of course the same theory will ap- 
ply. I have not much to say in relation to it. 
The prune and the plum ought to be a vigor- 
ous, healthy growing tree, and in places where 
it is in a poor, rather light, dry soil, of course 
it will make the growth lighter; and of course 
it would not need the amount of pruning back 
that it would in a strong soil to raise a good 
fruit. My opinion is that where a good apple 
or pear would grow, a good prune can be raised. 
We must try and raise large, well-developed 
prunes, since we find where there is very little 
growth of wood the soil is not very good, the 
prunes are very small and have no great value 
for drying. My idea of pruning the prune or 
the plum tree, is to make a handsome tree 
with plenty of limbs; and prune it back so that 
it will give the limbs great strength and bear- 
ing space. In that way you can raise a large 
amount of good plums or prunes. 

A Delegate: Do you thin out much? 

Mr. Aiken: Not very much, unless the limbs 
cross, because when they begin to bear the 
tree opens very nicely. I have eight-year-old 
French prune trees, and though, they didn't 
average it, many of them had 800 pounds of 
French prunes on this year without much af- 
fecting the form or the shape of the tree. They 
were so pruned and so strong, and with such a 
broad bearing space that they bore that amount 
of prunes, and very easily, although it has been 
a dry year and they were not quite as large as 
they would have been if there had been a little 
more moisture. I think the great mistake in 
raising the plum and the prune is to leave too 
few limbs, say one limb way up in the air and 
the other one in another direction like two 
arms. On such a tree you can raise very little 
fruit, and it would be of very little profit. I 
am of the opinion, too, that this pruning should 



go on each year and give a fine form and 
strength and bearing space, and when the tree 
bears and gets to be over six years old and is in 
good bearing you don't need so much pruning 
back. Indeed, I think, when it is eight, or 
nine, or ten years old I don't think it needs 
much if any pruning back; of course, take out 
the old limbs to keep it in good form or shape. 
If that is not a good way to prune the plum I 
would like to know it. 

A Delegate: What is the character of ths 
soil? 

Mr. Aiken: These prunes that bore so heav- 
ily were on dark, rich loam — you might call it 
a sandy loam, and the clear soil under those 
trees is, acording to my measurement, about 25 
feet in depth. It is a very rich soil, and we 
have from 60 to 80 inches of rainfall in winter. 

A Delegate: Is the French prune a regular 
bearer? 

Mr. Aiken: Never fails; that is a remarka- 
ble feature of the production. It will bear a 
good crop each year without any failure from 
any cause I ever heard. 

A Delegate: I heard one gentleman say that 
they were bearers only once in two years. 

Mr. Aiken: That is hardly so in our central 
part of the State, and another thing the French 
prune especially needs rather a long season, a 
cold season. I don't think it would be profita- 
ble to raise prunes in this section, or in the hot 
valleys. A few have tried it, and I do not 
think they have made a success of it for many 
reasons; on account of the heat and the drying 
up they do not mature in size, or form or taste. 

A Delegate: Do you irrigate ? 

Mr, Aiken: No, not at all. We try and 
cultivate well. With me there is a very thick 
clover and alfillerilla grows in the orchard dur- 
ing the winter, and I turn it under each year for 
manure for the trees. The soil is very rich but 
I have done that plowing under regularly, while 
a neighbor of mine never allows a spear of grass 
to grow, and I believe he starved his trees out, 
I believe you can starve trees as well as any- 
thing else. 

Mr. I. H. Thomas: I have been observing 
the growth of the prune in the San Joaquin val- 
ley, because the question is asked us as nurs- 
erymen what to plant. In Fresno, in the Cen- 
tral colony, the oldest trees I know of growing 
there are about seven years old. The land is 
laid off in checks, one check in French prunes 
and so on. They have adopted the system each 
year of pruning in close, and got but very few 
prunes; then the next block of trees is 
not pruned at all, except to cut out cross limbs, 
and a heavy crop is the result. That has been my 
observation in watching that orchard for three 
years, and from that observation I do not be- 
lieve I would do much pruning of the French 
prune after you get it in shape as a three-year- 
old. 

Mr. Aiken: Don't the prunes there burn ? Is 
it not too warm for the prune ? 

Mr. Thomas: No. 

Mr. Aiken: I was going to ask if you have 
any experience in this part of the State with 
the prune, the French, the German or the Hun- 
garian ? 

Mr, Milton Thomas: I will say that the 
French prune, in Los Angeles county generally 
does well, more especially in the Santa Ana 
valley, I heard Mr, Center, a very reliable 
gentleman, say that parties there with six-year- 



84 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



old trees had six and eight hundred pounds on 
their trees for a number of years; they seldom 
fail. As to plums, there are very few varieties 
of plums that do well in Los Angeles county to 
my knowledge, and I do not recommend any- 
body to plant a plum tree here, but a French 
prune does well so far as I know. 

Mr. Wilcox : Perhaps the largest prune or- 
chards in America are in the Santa Clara val- 
ley. We have them there to the extent of 100 
acres in an orchard; one person has more than 
that. Those orchards have sold for large fig- 
ures, some of them, but they are planting so 
extensively that some are almost afraid to 
plant them. You will see that of the French 
prunes there are several types that do not 
always appear the same. These prunes ex- 
hibited here are an odd type of prune; if they 
had been well handled and put up they would 
have compared well with any in the market. 
There is this about prunes : when they bear 
too heavily on dry ground they will be small. 
Mr, Aiken said, at the last meeting of the 
State Horticultural Society, two or three weeks 
ago, that it is his impression, from what he 
knows of the Chicago market, that you must 
depend hereafter on the size of the prune more 
than anything else. There is a kind called the 
"Robe de Sergent," I believe that is the 
name. That prune is said to be very much 
larger. I shall plant some of them the coming 
winter. I intend to plant a great many 
prunes. I have faith to believe that I can 
raise them, although it may be that we will 
need a higher tarifif^to make them profitable; 
still it pays very well, and the amount used 
in the United States at the present time is 
enormous, and I think we will use more. It is 
the cheapest fruit we can use, and very healthy. 
I think the day will come when we will supply 
the consumers in the East. I would encour- 
age every man to put in more prunes where 
they do well, 

A Delegate : Do you raise the French prune 
from the cutting ? 

Mr, Wilcox : We do not, but we graft it on 
another kind of cutting. Whenever the soil is 
very rich suckers will come up; now, if you ex- 
pect to raise a good tree, that will not sucker, 
do not graft on any of those suckers. Wher- 
ever the peach will grow it is best to graft on 
peach! stock, nevertheless east of the Rocky 
mountains they graft peaches on plums. We 
do the reverse, and wherever you have good 
moist soil you can graft on the peach or on 
most anything that will take the plum. 

Mr. W. H. Aiken: There is another prune 
besides the French prune that is well spoken of. 
I think they call it the Hungarian prune. It 
is a prune that will ship well; that is an up- 
right grower and needs to be pruned to make 
form and shape. I would say don't prune a 
plum tree mjich; but that prune like many 
plums will shoot right up in the air so that it is 
impossible to pick the fruit. There is no sense 
in letting it grow so that you can't get the fruit 
when you raise it. You want to give it a good 
bearing space where you get it. The German 
prune is a good shipper, but indeed, of any 
fruit, the French prune will ship East, and that 
is what we are going to do, if we get low freight: 
send them all over there, I really believe that 
the French prune. is the best drying plum we 
have, but I do not want you to go into the 
prune business; I am in it myself and I do not 



want to invite competition, but undoubtedly 
the prune will do well on good soil. People tell 
me that poor soil is good for fruit; I do not 
know what it is good for ; it is not good for 
fruit in my estimation; you cannot get a soil too 
good for fruit nor too rich, but trees grown in 
good soil must be pruned, 

Mr. Gray: I think it is a mistake to call 
the Italian prune a good shipper, I would 
not advise anybody to plant them for shipping. 
In the first place they drop from the trees be- 
fore they ought to be picked, and when they 
are ripe they are so soft that you cannot dry 
them at all in any dry-house I have ever seen. 
If you get them dry enough they will drip; if 
they are not dried quick enough they will gran- 
ulate. They are a very poor fruit. We have a 
great many more of them than we wish we had. 
The only way we can dry them is to cut them 
just as we do the plum and sell them for a sweet 
plum, 

Mr. Wilcox : There is more than one kind 
of German prune, one originally egg-shaped, I 
raised that. There is another kind, and they, 
I believe, are what Mr. Aiken says are very 
good to', ship. There is also the Oregon silver 
prune, very large, something like the egg 
plum, and which was thought by some of us to 
be merely Coe's Golden Drop. It is very 
large and it makes a beautiful prune. 

Protection to the Fruit Industry. 

The convention met for the fifth and last 
day's session on Saturday, November 23d, Presi- 
dent Cooper in the chair. 

Mr. Aiken presented a report in the protec- 
tion of the fruit interest, with a memorial, as 
follows : 

Los Angeles, Gal., Nov. 21, 1885. 

To the Fruit G)-owers' Conventioti of California^ 
Your committee on a memorial to Congress would 
respectfully recommend the adoption of the memor- 
ial herewith submitted, and that the same be 
signed and certified by the president and secretary 
of this convention and copies of the same be for- 
warded to each member or the California delegation 
in Congress. W. H. Aiken, 

Chairman of Committee. 

Memorial of Fruit Growers' of California. 

Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 21, 1885. 

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States, Washington, D. C: 
Your memorialists, the fruit growers of the State of 
California assembled in their annual convention at 
Los Angeles, this 21st day of November, 1885, most 
respectfully represent: 

That the soil and climate of the State of California 
are adapted to the production and preparation of 
the prune, the raisin and the olive of good quality 
and in quantities sufficient, eventually, to supply the 
demand for such products in the United States; 

That these important industries are in their in- 
fancy and stand in great need of protection from com- 
petition with foreign prunes, raisins and ohve oil 
produced by the cheap labor of Europe. 

Your memorialists have found by actual experience 
that the present duties of two cents per pound on 
prunes and raisins and one dollar a gallon on olive 
oil afford no real protection and give little encour- 
agement to those engaged in these great and grow- 
ing enterprises in California; 

That an import duty of three cents on prunes 
and raisins and two dollars per gallon on olive oil 
would enable California to successfully compete with 
the world on these products in the markets of this 
country and pay fair and full wages to American 
labor. 

The growing of the orange and lemon in the- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS. 



85 



United States should also be encouraged and pro- 
tected from competition with like products of foreign 
lands and in the opinion of your memorialists the 
duties on these products are entirely too low. 

Your memorialists further represent: That the 
Mexican Reciprocity treaty now under consideration 
for Congressional action seriously threatens the 
future of many agricultural industries in the United 
States and especially that of fruit growing in 
California. 

The long established policy in this country of the 
protection and encouragement of American labor and 
American industries should not be changed so as to 
practically protect and encourage IVIexican labor and 
agriculture. 

The Mexican Reciprocity treaty would in effect 
admit the Republic of Mexico to the Union, to a 
share in our great prosperity and give its people a 
right to compete with Americans for trade in our 
markets without bearing the burdens of this govern- 
ment and without any love for this country. 

Your memorialists therefore respectfully and earn- 
estly request the Congress of the United States to 
so adjust the tariff on the products above referred to, 
as to make us a prosperous and independent people 
and to decline legislation intended to enforce and 
put in operation the Mexican Reciprocity treaty. 

Diacussion. 

Mr. Aiken : This memorial does not ask for 
• a perfect protection, and yet it seeks to acquire 
what we so much need. I believe in theAmer- 
ican institutions; I believe America should pro- 
vide for the many. I believe we can raise the 
prune, raisin and olive, and also the orange and 
lemon that will supply the markets of this coun- 
try, and keep at home our money, and I hope 
there will be a free discussion of this matter be- 
cause we ought to hear from everybody. 

Mr. Hatch: While I endorse the memorial 
from personal reasons and for the benetit of the 
State of California, at the same time I do not 
think there isa real estate agent in Los Angeles 
that would indorse that unless they knew that 
Congress would act favorubly upon it, as it 
would hardly like to place before the Eastern 
people that we cannot make profits on these 
very things; that is, sufficient profits without 
extra action in our favor. As it now is, we can 
make living profits, it is true. If we are as- 
sured that favorable action will be taken upon 
this we could make extraordinary profits. The 
question seems to be in my mind. Is it advisable 
for us to place such an advertisement before 
the world? 

Dr. Kimball, of Alameda: I think that the 
principle involved in this resolution, or memor- 
ial, is decidedly unjust to the status or stand- 
ing of California at the present day, because we 
go before the nation as a supplicant; a little 
handful of people on this coast that are en- 
gaged in raising the olive, the prune, the raisin, 
grape and the fig,. we go before the people of this 
great commonwealth that reaches from sea to 
sea, a boundless empire almost, and we ask them 
for protection. It places us in an unjust posi- 
tion in regard to ourselves, in regard to our 
great prosperity, and in regard to our great 
prospects for the future, and as Mr. Hatch has 
just said, I believe that every real estate agent 
ought to take up his tomahawk and scalping 
knife and go for the memorial. It is an adver- 
tisement of our inability, notwithstanding our 
favored soil and our wonderful climate, and all 
these things, to compete with the people in 
Germany, and where they are raising prunes. 
Is this an advertisement that will bring emi- 



grants here to California, that will cause the 
peasant of Europe to come out here and work 
for us? I think that the gentlemen when they 
advocate this memorial are slightly mistaken. 
The protective policy has been the policy of my 
whole life, but when we come down to the ques- 
tion of compelling the people from the Gulf to 
Canada, and from the Atlantic to the Sierra 
Nevadas to pay two cents more a pound for the 
plums in their puddings, I don't believe it will 
do. I believe that the people will regard it as 
a kind of an insult when they read the magnifi- 
cent reports tRat are sent from this glorious 
country here, and this beautiful climate, and 
find that men are making $250 per acre from the 
raisin grape, and that those poor benighted in- 
dividuals around the bay are making $150 to 
$200 per acre from their prunes, and still they 
want help, while the people in the mountains in 
the East are willing to work for a profit of $3 
per acre, or even $2, and I, for one, am not in 
favor of the memorial. 

Mr. Bettner: I concur to a large extent in 
the views that have been presented by Dr. 
Kimball, that is to say in the reasonableness 
from one standpoint of those views, but as the 
manufacturer sells protected goods to the fruit 
grower and to the agricultural interest so as to 
receive all the benefit of what has been, I may 
say to a certain extent at least, the policy of 
this Government, it is not right that the agri- 
cultural interest should bear all the burdens. 
We have often seen a representative of the in- 
terests of this country go to Congress and claim 
substantially as to the manufacturing interest 
what Dr. Kimball has said refering to Southern 
California. This agricultural interest will bear 
the burden and receive none of the benefits 
from this proposed Mexican Reciprocity treaty. 
Such a treaty of reciprocity with Mexico strikes 
directly at some of the most important inter- 
ests of the country, not only the fruit interest, 
but some other interests of the State; also the 
tobacco interest and the sugar interest of 
Louisiana. Why on the same principle ought not 
the agriculturalist to have the benefit of the 
free trade of England, France and Germany and 
other nations that export to this country, in- 
stead of paying, as now, the high tariff, which 
increases the cost to him of producing every 
article that he does produce? 

Mr. Wilcox: I am in favor of the protective 
tariff so far as it is necessary in the commence- 
ment, and this may not be necessary always. 

1 understand from Mr. Blowers, who took the 
premium at the World's Fair, at Philadelphia, 
for American raisins, against the world, that he 
has not made a fortune at that business. I 
met him in New Orleans last year, and he still 
asked for a tariff and circulated his petitions a 
year or two ago for that purpose, and I believe t 
the present time it would be a wise policy to do 
so ; because if we undertake to compete with 
the producers of Europe, it means that we com- 
pete in the price of the labor also that produces 
those products in Europe. Capital is also 
cheaper there, and a vineyard in France that is 
worth .$2000 per acre is worked on capital worth 

2 and 3 per cent annually. Now, if we want 
the laborers here to thrive and to invite labor- 
ers from all parts of the woald, let ua tell 
them they can make money here as well as to 
enjoy in company with us our beautiful sun- 
shine. Only a few years ago we did not know 
that we could make wine for the market, and it 



86 



FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 



was only by a protective tariff that we succeed- 
ed in doing it. We may not always need it for 
producing wine, we do not think we will, as 
soon as the people find out what our wine is, 
and like it as well as they do any other wine, 
we can compete with any producers in the 
world. So it is with raisins, after we get start- 
ed and our raisins have a reputation, and the 
people want them and feel that they must have 
them, they will pay our price; but we have cer- 
tain disadvantages, and I think that protection 
on the start would be a great advantage to the 
fruit industry of this State and.the laborers of 
the State. 

Mr. Hatch: So far as the Reciprocity treaty 
with Mexico is concerned, I think it is of vital 
importance, and we should all endorse most 
anything that is antagonistic to it. 

Mr. Milco: I will state concerning the pro- 
tection of sweet oil, and of the prune and the 
raisin, from my own experience. I know that 
in Dalmatia, which is a great olive country, the 
laborers are paid from 15 to 25 cents a day, and 
the oil there is worth something in the neigh- 
borhood of 50 cents a gallon. Now the freight 
from that country to New York these days can- 
not be very much, and if we should allow the 
oil at any time to come into competition with 
our oil in this country, no matter who has got 
an olive orchard, he will have to cut it down, 
because those people at 50 cents a gallon for 
their oil will make money while we will starve. 
I cannot get anybody to work for me for less 
than $30 per month and board; that is, white 
men — men that will stay with me year in and 
year out. Of course, I can pick up tramps and 
work them two or three days for half a dollar 
each, but as soon as they get a little cash they 
will go. I want men that will build up this 
country, and if we pay white men good wages 
we expect those men will stay and grow up 
with us, and whenever they make a little stake 
they will be looking around for a little piece of 
land to plant a little orchard or vineyard or 
something of that kind. But if we are going 
to allow European goods of that sort to come in 
competition with us, such as raisins and prunes, 
and particularly sweet oil, unless we have a 
protective tariff, as my friend Mr. Wilcox, of 
Santa Clara says, for a certain period, until we 
educate the American people to our product, 
we will not succeed. I will give you a little 
experience in my own business, this buhach for 
an illustration. When we went to New York 
City and offered our production, pure as it was, 
to those people over there, they said: "Create a 
demand for it; we do not know anything about 
your goods; if there is a demand for it we will 
buy it; if there is no demand we do not care 
about it; we are handling those goods from Eu- 
rope and they suit us." That is what they told 
us, but just as soon as we made the people un- 
derstand, and asked them to go and buy it and 
try it, they can't sell those other goods at all. 
They have them and they are rotting on their 
hands, and so here and every other place you 
must be encouraged. We must be given a 
chance to introduce our own goods to our own 
people, and so the chances will be that when we 
get to grow it largely it will probably compen- 
sate us for what we will probably have to sell 
for less, but to introduce any new goods, no 
matter what it is, of the production of this 
country, it takes all a man can get out of it to 
place it. That is my experience, and unless we 



have some protection we will have a hard road 
to travel. 

Mr. Wilcox: Those who know our prunes 
know they sold very readily for 10 cents a 
pound up to two years ago; within the last year 
the highest quotation in our market has been 
five cents. That shows which way the wind 
blows, and those who intend to raise prunes 
largely, expect protection, if they need it. I 
think it safe to ask and receive protection for a 
limited time. 

Dr. Cougar : It seems to me that in the first 
place that we should ascertain how much pure 
olive oil is imported to this country, and to ask 
Congress to pass a law to have inspectors so as 
to know how much cotton seed oil we are using 
and how much real olive oil is brought to this 
country. I cannot find a bottle of pure imported 
olive oil in a drug store, nor grocery house, nor 
other places where it is supposed to be kept. I 
bought one bottle of olive oil from our presi- 
dent, and I defy any person to go into any house 
in this city, or to any other place in Southern 
California and find an article that compares 
with it; in other words you cannot find any 
olive oil. Now ought we not to know how much 
oil we are receiving from abroad before we ask 
Congress to protect this cotton seed oil at the 
rate of $2 a gallon ? That is what ought to be 
done. Congress ought to pass a bill to find out 
the adulterations in the first place, and then we 
can legislate to protect that which should be 
protected. 

Mr. Bettner : There seems to be a difference 
of opinion, and whatever action should be taken 
on this question, should go before the country 
as the unanimous expression of this convention. 
Now so far as the memorial refers to the Recip- 
rocity treaty I believe that there can be but 
one idea, and as a member of that committee, 
so far as I am concerned, I am perfectly willing 
that our reference to the other matters, except- 
ing as to the Reciprocity treaty in that 
memorial be withdrawn, and that we go before 
the Senate and House of Representatives with 
the memorial referring to that Reciprocity treaty 
which undoubtedly is unjust, inasmuch as it is 
special legislation intended to benefit a certain 
set of our citizens at the expense of the other.. 

Mr. Aiken: As to that, this matter was re- 
ferred to the committee and we had to deal with 
all this subject of prunes, raisins, olives etc. 
The committee, in starting out, thought that 
they would place it in the form that is present- 
ed before you. Just because one or two gen- 
tlemen have very strong ideas upon the subject, 
I do not see that that is any very good reason 
why we should abandon this great movement. 
All of us must aamit that when we come in 
competition with foreign labor in the prepara- 
tion of these very things, we cannot raise them 
or prepare them or sell them' in our markets. 
There is the matter of freights: we all know 
that two cents a pound would give us more 
than the foreigner receives or expects to receive 
for his fruit and they have cheaper freight than 
we do. Now, to come down to the raisin and 
the dried fruit: Put them in the market at 2 
cents, and we would have to abandon our 
homes and take to the woods and go to logging. 
So far as the raisin is concerned, my friend Mr. 
Blowers said to me very lately: "I shall de- 
stroy my raisin'vineyard and put in alfalfa and 
go to raising hogs." That is the situation he is 
in. It is time now for us by main force to pro- 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWERS, 



87 



tect the horticultural industries in this country, 
and, as was very well said by Mr. Bettner, the 
agriculturists have asked very little and have 
received very little in this country. Our pro- 
tection is almost nominal, while every manu- 
factured article that the agriculturists use is 
protected. If that is the policy of this country, 
why not share in that protection ? We cer- 
tainly ask but very little. They are giving us 
now one cent on prunes; we ask in addition 
one cent to build up this industry and to 
save three millions of money at home, and to 
keep up good prices for American labor. Now, 
the reason why the price of the prune was re 
duced from 10 or 12 cents to five, was because 
the foreign prune raisers threw upon this coun- 
try a bankrupt stock of fruit last year. They 
had an excessive supply, ' and rather than 
dump those prunes in the ocean they sent them 
over here and sold them for whatever they 
would bring, and, of course, broke down our 
market. The protection of one cent a pound 
was nothing to them, owing to the cheapness 
with which they could raise them, and with 
the cheap rates of freight across the ocean, they 
utterly destroyed our prune market. The 
prunes of California 'cannot sell in competition 
with foreign prunes at one cent protection, and 
I do hope this memorial may be at least adopt- 
ed by a large majority of this convention and 
given out to the world as the expressed opinion 
of the fruit growers of California. 

Dr. Kimball : I am opposed myself to the 
Mexican Reciprocity treaty, but in regard to 
my friend of the Santa Cruz mountains, Mr. 
Aiken, I would like to give the convention the 
result of a little figuring. That is a prolific 
country where he is, and I think I have heard 
the gentlemen himself state that he has had 
very young trees that bore in the neighborhood 
of 600 pounds of prui'cs. I have figured on 
the basis of 300 pounds to the tree and 127 
trees to the acre, and that will give the as- 
tounding result of 38,100 pounds of green fruit 
per acre. You all know that prunes dry down 
about three to one, and that would give us 
about 12,700 pounds of dried fruit per acre, 
which, at two f cents a pound, would amount to 
the sum of $25'4; and if the people of California 
cannot live on the profit of $150 per acre, 
throwing out the balance, they had better stop 
business. Prune orchards are one of the best 
paying things in this State, even at four cents 
a pound, and the idea that we should inform 
the whole American people, where they are not 
able to raise prunes, that we must throw upon 
them the penalty of having to pay an excessive 
price of two cents more a pound for prunes for 
the purposeof putting additional benefits into the 
hands of growers of prunes in California, who 
have already became rich at it, I think it essen- 
tially a wrong idea. 

In regard to my friend Mr. Milco, who be- 
lieves in a high duty on olive oil, I wish to 
make the suggestion, or the inquiry rather, as 
to how long he thinks it will take for the peo- 
ple of the United States to become great olive 
oil consumers if they have to pay a duty of two 
dollars a gallon. If there is a protection of two 
dollars a gallon on all the olive oil imported, 
there is no such thing as a reformation which 
will result in using olive oil largely in this conn- 
try, and we shall all die of starving before that 
time will come. It is well enough to be satis- 
fied with a good thing, and the profits of the 



people of the East are much smaller than ours. 
Notwithstanding you receive small profits on the 
production of the orange, yet wisely managed 
and wisely conducted, there are profits in your 
orange orchards, there are profits in your grape 
and raisin interests, for the consumption of 
your fresh grape and of your raisin is immense 
and it is increasing. It seems to me that the 
policy of the people of the State of California 
should be to furnish the largest amount of good 
fruit at the cheapest possible price, instead of 
hunting about and rendering it more difficult to 
obtain it, and that this should be the purpose 
of every one engaged in this business in Cali- 
fornia. 

Mr. Rice: As the gentleman said a few min- 
utes ago, the real estate agent has his toma- 
hawk and scalping )inife, and is figuring the 
probable profits he can made on an orchard. I 
am very sorry he gave the figures of the profits 
in growing prunes. A few years ago a gentle- 
man from San Francisco — Mr. Pixley — was 
down here, and he saw a gentleman who had 
just sold his oranges off of one tree 
for $10. Mr. Pixley figured up and said 
100 trees to the acre would yield a $1000 
per annum, and that on a small place of 
just 160 acres, a section of land, his in- 
come for the year would be $160,000. It was 
not a very big farm, either, and the oranges 
were just commencing to bear, so in a few years 
it would be much larger, and every real estate 
agent in this country (there is only a few of 
them, by the way) have been using the figures 
ever since, and the latest bulletin I have seen 
from the real estate office is doubling on it, be- 
cause the ti-ees are growing a great many more 
oranges. This argument may be good to a cer- 
tain extent. We are making a fortune out of 
our prunes and olive oil, and so on, in some in- 
Btances, I know one gentleman this year who 
has got five acres of Muscat grapes, and he has 
got the coin in his pockets— .$1250 for that 
raisin crop; $250 per acre. That is a very 
handsome profit, but those are not the figures 
of the whole raisin crop of Southern California 
or of this county for this year. I am afraid 
when the balance sheet is made up of the raisin 
crop this year, it will not show much more than 
$25 profit per acre, and, by the way, one firm 
that has 50 acres of raisins out in this range, is 
not going to make a big profit on it, and on the 
whole there is not so much profit. I know a 
gentleman that did not make a cent out of it; 
in fact, he lost money. It must be an isolated 
ease that can make large gains. It is true that 
we view this tarifl" question by our own 
opinion, and our local ideas and our political 
predilections, and we want to stand by them 
through thick and thin; but I would like to see 
the farmers stand together on something, even 
if it is no more than to protect our interests 
here in California. I hope we will all stand to- 
gether on this home memorial. I would like to 
see it adopted unanimously. 

Dr. Chubb: I think that there are reasons 
why we can ask for this additional aid in a cer- 
tain direction aside from the Mexican Recipro- 
city treaty. Now, we have been discussing 
here the best fruit for profit to grow in this 
State, and we have got all the information pos- 
sible as to whether the prune is a profitable 
fruit, in the opinion of the men who have gone 
thus far in its cultivation. It is with very 
I great difficulty that we even get a recommenda- 



FIFTH ANNUAL CO^tEf^TiON 



tion to plant the prune, and why? They say it 
is very doubtful whether it will prove a profit- 
able crop in the State. We, in the southern 
part of the State, do not know much about 
the prune crop but we do know about the 
raisin crop, and if the raisin crop were as pro- 
fitable as some men seem to imagine, the real 
estate agents of this and every other city in the 
State of California would not need any other 
inducement to bring any amount of immigration 
into this country. The fact, is, gentlemen, that 
while there are exceptions to all rules, the 
raisin industry is not a profitable industry at 
this present moment. There are a great many 
drawbacks to that as well as to the other fruit 
industries of this State, which are only discov- 
ered when the man thinks he is going to make a 
fortune and starts in making raisins. The for- 
eign crop of raisins is produced in a country 
where on a general average the labor is only 10 
cents a day, and it is not the poor man there 
that makes the profit. It is the system that 
cramps him down to that and keeps him there, 
and the dealers who take the raisins off his 
hands at those prices are the men who make the 
money off of it. We do not propose that our 
American labor shall be reduced to that situa- 
tion. We hope to oflFer inducements to Ameri- 
can labor to produce these things that are so 
largely consumed in our own country, and these 
industries for which we ask protection to-day 
are not California industries specifically; they 
are American industries, they are a part of the 
interests of this great commonwealth and must 
be protected if they need protection. The idea 
that it is an additional burden to consumers in 
the East, I believe should be looked at in this 
way: We are consuming the products of East- 
ern labor which have had protection for years 
and which is still planning for protection, and 
we are only asking a reciprocal advantage for 
our industry. The very fact that we might add 
"2 cents to raisins or to prunes is not going to be 
an observable item in the consumption of these 
articles upon the American continent. It is 
not that it adds to the expense of the con- 
sumers, but that it is so much more of a pro- 
tection against the introduction of foreign fruits. 
The question comes then, with this additional 
import duty upon foreign fruits, that with all 
their advantages and cheap labor can afi"ord to 
flood this country with foreign fruits to the dis- 
advantage of our own. That is the point we are 
endeavoring to make out: it is not that we want 
to oppress the Eastern consumer by adding to 
the price of consumption, but that we want to 
shut out to a certain extent the profits given to 
foreign pauper labor and to foreign capital- 
ists upon foreign fruits to the disadvantage 
of our own. All we ask is that we have the 
same free, generous support in the development 
of these interests that our Eastern friends on 
the Atlantic shore have had to like industries 
for years. 

Mr. Wilcox: I am proud to represent that 
section where the prune industry seems to be 
most extensive. In Santa Clara valley it is a 
serious question now about the future of the 
prune. There was a prune excitement a few 
years ago, and everybody who had ground paid 
all they asked for the trees and put out the 
prune. The highest the prune will bear, that 
I know of, is 600 pounds — full-grown trees — 
and the ground was irrigated. Now, when a 
prune tree gets of a certain hight it does not 



grow well. It bears on the ends of the limbs' 
and will exhaust itself in time, and that is » 
matter that should be takes into consideration, 
I remember when prunes sold for $1 a pound; 
they came down gradually, but were high until 
California brought the prices down, and it is 
us that the Eastern consumers have to thank 
that the prices are what they are now — so I say 
it is safe to give us a little protection at this 
time. 

Mr. Hixson: There ia no doubt, whether we 
get additional duty on prunes or not, that thi» 
is one of the great industries of the State, and 
it is not going down even if we do not succeed 
in getting more protection. I do not pretend 
to say but what a cent more a pound would 
help us; but suppose we do not get it? I don't 
want the people who read these proceedings 
here to think we are going to become paupers 
if we do not get it. I have received a letter 
since I have been in this city, of the sale of 
some of Dr. Kimball's prunes at eight cents 
a pound. There is no trouble at all about our 
raising prunes afid selling them for enough to 
give us a profit. All you have got to do is to- 
raise good fruit and put it up in good shape. 
We can put it up as well as the French, and 
they don't expect less than 12| and 15 cents a 
pound; and when you get good prunes, like Dr. 
Kimball raises, they will sell. If you will just 
prune your trees a little more I will guarantee 
to sell the fruit. I don't want it understood 
that I am not in favor of this memorial, but I 
want you to understand that if you do not get 
it, there is still a chance for people to make a 
living without it. 

Mr. Kimball: I move an amendment to that 
memorial to strike out ail except what refers 
to the Reciprocity treaty. The amendment of 
Dr. Kimball was lost. 

Upon motion the memorial was unanimously 
adopted. 

Mr. Bettner offered the following resolution, 
which was adopted unanimously : 

Resolved, That it is the unanimous sense of the 
Fruit-Growers of California here assembled, that the 
Mexican Reciprocity treaty, and all other Spanish- 
American treaties now before Congress, are opposed 
to the fruit interests of California, and other great 
agricultural interests of the United States, and that 
any legislation tending to carry them into effect 
should be opposed by every delegate to the Congress 
of the United States from this State, and that the 
secretary of this convention be instructed to forward 
a copy of this resolution to every member of that 
delegation. 

True Labels. 

Mr. Webb offers the following resolution 
which is adopted unanimously: 

Resolved, That Congress be requested to so amend 
the revenue laws so as to require every article im- 
ported, whether dutiable or free, intended for human 
consumption to contain a true label of its contents; 
it be subject to confiscation by default. 
Ad^journraent. 

Dr. Chapin: I move that the convention ex- 
press its thanks to Los Angeles Pomological 
Society and its obliging and efficient committee 
for the kind attention and valuable services 
they have rendered the fruit-growers of the 
State during the sessions of the convention, and 
also to the press of Los Angeles, which has made 
such thorough and complete reports of the pro- 
ceedings of the convention. 

The motion was carried, and the convention 
adjourned sine die. 



Meetings of the State Board of Horticulture. 

MinxiteB of the Semi-Annual Meetings of the State Board of Horticulture 
for the Fiscal Year Commencing April 1, 1885. 



Office State Board of Horticulture, \ 
April 23, 1SS5. J 
This being the regular day for the meet- 
ing the members of the board met at 11 
o'clock A. M. There were present Messrs. Ell- 
wood Cooper, Wm. M. Boggs, A. F. Coronel, 
Dr. S. F. Chapin, Dr. E. Kimball, G. N. 
Milco, N. R. Peck, General M. G. Vallejo and 
A. H. Webb, secretary, being a full board ex- 
cepting the Hon. H. C. Wilson, who was ab- 
sent. President Cooper took the chair nnd 
called the board to order. The secretary then 
read the minutes of the preceding meeting, 
which were approved as read. 

President Cooper then recommended an elec- 
tion of officers of the board, which was agreed 
to, and ou motion EIlwool Cooper was unani- 
mously reelected to the office of president. 
On motion General M. G. Vallejo was 
unanimously re-elected to the office of treas- 
urer, and A. H. Webb was unanimously re- 
elected to the office of secretary. General 
Vallejo then moved that the board proceed to 
the election of the Inspiector of Fruit Pests, 
which was agreed to, and the president de- 
clared nominations in order, whereupon General 
Vallejo nominated Dr. S. F. Chapin, and G. 
N. Milco nominated Mr. Matthew Cooke. On 
motion of N. Peck the nominations were closed. 
President Cooper suggested the propriety of 
inviting candidates for Inspector of Fruit Pests 
to appear before the board and give their views 
as to the duties of that officer. 

This was opposed by Commissioners Boggs 
and Peck and advocated by Commissioners 
Kimball and Milco, and after a full discussion 
of the question finally agreed to, and at 12:30 
p. M. the board took a recess for one hour. 

At 1:30 P. M. the board reconvened, all the 
members of the morning session being present. 
President Cooper took the chair and called the 
board to order. On motion of Dr. Chapin, Mr. 
Milco was requested to invite Mr. Matthew 
Cooke to appear before the board and give his 
views regarding the office of Inspector of Fruit 
Pests. Mr. Cooke then appeared, and upon being 
introduced, proceeded in a brief and concise 
manner, stating that if elected his whole time 
and attention would be given exclusively to the 
duties of the office and that he would strive to 
promote the best interests of the fruit-growers 
of the State. 

Mr. Cooke spoke of his large and valuable col- 
lection of insects, which in his long researches 
in entomology he had collected, and which, if 
elected, he would place in the office of the 
State Board of Horticulture. 

Upon the conclusion of Mr. Cooke's remarks 
the board went" into executive session and then 
proceeded to ballot for Inspector of Fruit Pests 
with the following result: Dr. S. F. Chapin re- 
ceived five votes, Matthew Cooke received two 
votes and EUwood Cooper received one vote, 
whereupon the president declared that Dr. S. 
F. Chapin having received a majority of all the 
votes cast, he was duly elected to the office of 
Inspector of Fruit Pests. 

Mr. Coronel then spoke of holding the next 



meeting of the board in the city of Los Angeles 
as being but an act of justice to the southern 
section of the State, when Mr. Boggs offered 
the following resolution: 

Resolved, That the next meeting of the board 
shall be held in the city of Los Angeles at such 
time and place as shall hereafter be determined, 
and be it further 

R solved, That there shall also be held at the 
same time and place, under the auspices and 
direction of this board, the Fifth Annual Fruit 
Growers' Convention of California. Mr. Boggs 
and Mr, Coronel strongly urged this resolu- 
tion and it was unanimously adopted. 

The treasurer's report was then read and ap- 
proved. 

A committee of arrangements for the holding 
of the next meeting of the board and the Fifth 
Annual Fruit-Growers' Convention at Los An- 
geles was then appointed, consisting of Com- 
missioners Coronel and Chapin, 

The matter of appointing quarantine guar- 
dians for the different fruit sections of the Stata 
was then discussed at length, and also the effi- 
ciency and non-efficiency of the law to prevent 
the spreading of fruit and fruit-tree pests and 
diseases, approved March 9, 1885: some mem- 
bers holding that it would be impossible to 
get suitable and competent men who would 
care to assume the responsibility of informing 
on, and if necessary, proceeding to enforce the 
law against their own neighbors, while Mr. 
Milco thought otherwise, and urged the neces- 
sity and importance of immediate action by the 
board in the appointment of quarantine guar- 
dians, and a vigorous and determined tffort 
made to enforce the law, that the people of the 
State might see that the board were endeavor- 
ing to do something in furtherance of the duties 
they were appointed to perform. This view of 
the question finally prevailed and the following 
appointments were made: 

D wight HoUister for the Sacramento river 
district; J. W. Mansfield for road districts, Nos. 
1 and 2, iSlapa Co.; E. P. Foster for the fruit dis- 
trict comprising the town of Ventura in San 
Buenaventura Co. ; W. W. Chapman for the 
fruit district contiguous to and including the 
town of Petaluma in Sonoma Co.; J. C. Wey- 
bright for the fruit district comprising Cal- 
istoga and vicinity; John H. Guill for the 
fruit district comprising Chico and vicinity in 
the county of Butte; Clinton King for the 
fruit district comprising Alameda valley, Ala- 
meda county; Geo. D. Kellogg for the fruit 
district of Newcastle, Placer county; S. A. 
Wood for the fruit district including Penryn 
and vicinity. Placer county; A. T. Perkins for 
the Fruit Vale fruit district, Alameda Co.; 
H. G. Ellsworth, for the Niles, Mission, San 
Jose, Irvington and Centerville fruit districts, 
Alameda Co.; W. H. Robinson, for the fruit 
district adjacent to and mcluding the city of 
Stockton, San Joaquin Co., and Dr. G. Eisen 
for the fruit district including the town of 
Fresno, Fresno Co. 

In the matter of quarantine guardians for the 
city of San Francisco it was assigned to the 



STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



Inspector of Fruit Pests and the advisory com- 
mittee for future action. 

A committee consisting of Wm. M. Boggs 
and Dr. Kimball was appomted to draft suita- 
ble resolutions on the death of the late W. H. 
Jessup, which was unanimously adopted with a 
standing vote, and the secretary directed to 
forward to the bereaved family and the press a 
copy of the same. On motion the board ad- 
journed to 8:30 the following morning. 

Friday, April 24, 1885, 8:30 A. M.— The 
board met at the hour appointed, all the 
members of the previous day being present. 
President Cooper took the chair and called the 
board to order. After reading the reports of 
the various committees, on motion of Dr. Kim- 
ball an advisory committee was appointed con- 
sisting of EUwood Cooper, Wm. M. Boggs and 
Dr. Kimball, to act during the recess of the 
board in the consultation and direction of such 
matters as they may deem necessary, EUwood 
Cooper being chairman of said committee. 

The board then appointed John R. Sweetzer 
quarantine guardian for the supervisorial dis- 
trict, comprising the town of Novato, Marin 
county, when on motion the board adjourned 
to meet at their next regular meeting. 

The November Meeting. 

The board met in the exhibition hall in the 
city of Los Angeles, at 1 p. M., on the 19th day 
of November, 1885. 

There were present Messrs. EUwood Cooper, 
H. C. Wilson, Wm. M. Boggs, Dr. E. Kimball, 
Dr. S. F. Chapin, G. N. Milco, and A. H. 
Webb, secretary. Absent, General M. G. 
Valtejoand N. R. Peck, A letter was received 
from General Vallejo stating that he was pre 
vented from attending the meeting of the board 
on account of sickness in his family, and ex- 
pressing his regrets. 

President Cooper took the chair and called 
the board to order. The secretary then read 
the minutes of the preceding meeting, which 
were amended and then approved. 

The president then called for the reports of 
committees. The committee appointed to 
make arrangements for the Fifth Annual Fruit 
Growers' Convention, consisting of Dr. Chapin 
and Mr. A. F. Coronel, then made a verbal re- 
port through Dr. Chapin, and that portion of 
the report referring to the employment of a 
stenographic reporter by Messrs. Boggs, Chapin 
and Milco, when on motion of Dr. Kimball 
the board adjourned to 12:45 o'clock to-morrow. 

November 21, 1886, 12:45 p. m.— The board 
met as per adjournment. President Cooper in 
the chair. Present, Messrs. Cooper, Kimball, 
Coronel, Milco, Chapin and Boggs. 

The President called the meeting to order, 
when Mr. A. K. Whitton, the stenographic re- 
porter, appeared before the board and stated 
that the work of reporting the proceedings of 
the convention was more than he had antici- 
pated, and that he would be compelled to charge 
for the work in proportion to the amount to be 
done. After a full discussion of the subject, it 
being conceded that the work was greater than 
had been anticipated, it was finally moved by 
Mr. Milco, seconded by Mr. Boggs, that Mr. 
Whitton be allowed for his services in report- 
ing, transcribing and preparing for the printer 
the entire proceedings of the convention, the 
sum of $265, which was accepted by Mr, 
Whitton. 



A proposition in writing was then handed in 
by Messrs. Dewey & Co. of the Rural Press of 
San Francisco, proposing to publish in pamphlet 
form the report of the State Board of Horticul- 
ture for the year 1885, including the proceed- 
ings of the convention, free of charge to the 
board and in addition to give the board 1000 
copies of said report free of charge, in consider- 
ation of the privilege asked for, and on motion 
of Mr. Boggs the proposition was accepted by 
the board. 

The president then suggested a course of 
action in regard to the preparation and examin- 
ation of essays for the forthcoming report, 
when on motion the board adjourned to 4:30 

P. M. 

The board convened at 4:,30 p. m., President 
Cooper in the chair, and all the members of the 
morning session present. The president called 
the meeting to order, when Mr. Wilson moved 
to declare the office of Inspector of Fruit Pests 
vacant, which motion was seconded by Mr. 
Boggs. 

After a discussion of the subject the president 
put the question and directed the secretary to 
call the roll, and the members to vote as their 
names were called. On calling the roll the 
vote resulted as follows : Those voting aye 
were Messrs. Boggs, Kimball, Milco and Wil- 
son. Voting nay. Cooper. Not voting, Messrs. 
Coronel and Chapin. 

The president then declared the motion car- 
ried, and the office of Inspector of Fruit Pests 
vacant. On motion of Dr. Kimball, the board 
then adjourned to to morrow at 2 p. M. 

Saturday, 21, 1885, 2 p. m.— The board met 
as per adjournment. President Cooper took 
the chair and called the board to order. There 
were present Messrs. Cooper, Boggs, Coronel 
Kimball, Chapin, Milco and Wilson. 

The president declared nominations for the 
office of Inspector of Fruit Pests then in order, 
whereupon Mr. Bogga nominated Dr. Lots- 
peitch, Mr. Wilson nominated Wm. M. Boggs, 
Dr. Kimball nominated Matthew Cooke, Mr. 
Coronel nominated Alexander Craw, and Dr. 
Chapin nominated John Britton. On motion, 
the nominations were then closed. 

The president directed the members to pre- 
pare their ballots, and the secretary to act as 
teller. The first ballot resulted as follows : 
Dr. Lotspeitch, 1; Wm. M. Boggs, 1; Alexander 
Craw, 2; Matthew Cooke, 2; and EUwood 
Cooper, 1. 

Second ballot — Dr. Lotspeitch, 1 ; Wm. M. 
Boggs, 2; Alexander Craw, 1; Matthew Cooke, 
2; and John Britton, 1. 

Third ballot— Wm. M. Boggs, 3; Alexander 
Craw, 1; Matthew Cooke, 2; and John Britton, 
1. 

Fourth ballot — Wm. M. Boggs, 3; Alexander 
Craw, 2; and Matthew Cooke, 2. 

Fifth ballot— Wm. M. Boggs, 3; Alexander 
Craw, 1; Matthew Cooke, 2; and John Brit.on, 
1. 

Sixth ballot— Wm. M. Boggs, 4; Matthew 
Cooke, 2; and John Britton, 1. 

Whereupon the president declared that Mr. 
Boggs, having received a majority of all the 
votes cast, was duly elected to the office of 
Inspector of Fruit Pests. 

On motion of Dr. Kimball the board ad- 
journed. A. H. Webb, Secretary. 



The Fruit Pest Law. 



An Act to prevent the spreading of fruit and 
fruit tree pesta and diseases, and to provide for 
their extirpation (approved March 9th, 1885). 
—The people of the State of California, repre- 
sented in senate and assembly, do enact as fol- 
lows: 

Sec. 1, It shall be the duty of every owner, 
possessor or occupier of an orchard, nursery, or 
land where fruit trees are grown within this 
State, to disinfect all fruit trees grown on such 
lands infested with any insect or insects, or 
the germs thereof, or infested by any contagious 
disease known to be injurious to fruit or fruit 
trees, before the removal of the same from such 
premises for sale, gift, distribution, or transpor- 
tation. Fruit boxes which have been used for 
shipping fruit to any destination are hereby re- 
quired to be disinfected previous to their being 
again used for any purpose; all boxes returned 
to any orchard, storeroom, salesroom, or any 
place used or to be used for storage, shipping 
or any other purpose, must be disinfected with- 
in three days after their return; and any and 
all persons failing to comply with the require- 
ments of this section shall be guilty of misde- 
meanor. All packages, known as free pack- 
ages, must be destroyed or disinfected before 
being again used. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the owner, 
lessee or occupier of an orchard within this 
State, to gather all fruit infested by the insects 
known as the codlin moth, peach moth, red 
spider, plum weevil, and kindred noxious insects, 
their larva3 or pupje, which has fallen from the 
tree or trees, as often as once a week, and dis- 
pose of and destroy the same in such a manner 
as to effectually destroy all such insects, their 
larvaj or pupae. It shall be the duty of the In- 
spector of Fruit Pests, or the quarantine guar- 
dian, to inspect fruit packages, and all trees 
and plants, cuttings, grafts and scions, known 
or believed to be infested by any insect or in- 
sects, or the germs thereof, or their eggs, larvas 
or pupje, injurious to fruit or fruit trees, or in 
fasted with any disease liable to spread con- 
tagion, imported or brought into the State from 
any foreign country, or from any of the United 
States or Territories, and if upon inspection 
such fruit or fruit packages are found to be in- 
fested or infected, it shall be a misdemeanor to 
offer the same for sale, gift, distribution or 
transportation unless they shall be first disin- 
fected. 

Sec. 3. Every person shipping fruit trees, 
scions, cuttings, or plants, from any orchard, 
nursery, or other place where they were grown 
or produced, shall place upon or securely at- 



tach to each box, package, or parcel containing 
such fruit trees, scions, cuttings, or plants, a 
distinct mark or label, showing the name of the 
owner or shipper, and the locality where pro- 
duced. And any person who shall cause to be 
shipped, transported, or removed from any lo- 
cality declared by the State Board of Horticul- 
ture to be infested with fruit trees or orchard 
pests, or infected with contagious diseases in- 
jurious to trees, plants, or fruits, unless the 
same shall have been previously disinfected, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Disinfection 
shall be to the satisfaction of the S ate Board of 
Horticulture, or the Inspector of Fruit Pests. 
When disinfected, the fact shall be stamped 
upon each box, package, or separate parcel of 
fruit trees, scions, cuttmgs, or plants ; and any 
person who shall cause ,to be shipped, trans- 
ported, or removed, any such box, parcel, or 
package, from a quarantine district or locality, 
not bearing such stamp, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and may be punished by fine, as pro- 
vided in Sec. 6 of this Act. Any person who 
shall falsely cause such stamp to be used, or 
shall imitate or counterfeit any stamp or device 
used for such purpose, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the special duty of each 
member of the State Board of Horticulture to 
see that the provisions of this Act are carried 
out within his respective horticultural district, 
and all offenders duly punished. 

Sec. 5. All fruit trees infested by any insect 
or insects, their germs, larvEe or pupre, or in- 
fected by disease known to be injurious to 
truit or fruit trees, and liable to spread con- 
tagion, must -be cleaned or disinfected before 
the first day of April 1885, and on or before the 
first day of April of every succeeding year 
thereafter. All owners or occupants of lands 
on which fruit trees are grown failing to comply 
with the provisions of this section, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined as provided 
for in section six of this Act. All fruit, pack- 
ages, trees, plants, cuttings, grafts and scions 
that shall not be disinfected within 24 hours 
after notice by the Inspector of Fruit Pests, 
or a duly appointed quarantine guardian, or 
any member of the Board of Horticulture, shall 
be liable to be proceeded against as a public 
nuisance. 

Sec. 6. Any person or corporation violating 
any of the -provisions of this Act, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on 
conviction thereof, be punished bj a tine of 
not less than $25 nor more than $100 for every 



FOUND AT LAST! 



Just the Thing for Nurserymen. 

THE MOST COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL DEVICE OUT. 

CARROLL'S 

Tree ifl PM TfiiMiir, 



Timothy Carroll, of Anaheim, Los Angeles 
County, has invented, and obtained patents 
through Dewey & Co.'s Patent Agency, for a 
Tree Transplanter that is destined to work a 
revolution in the old-fashioned methods of taking 
up trees for transplanting . It works to a charm ; 
is easily handled; anyone can use it. It leaves 
a compact mass of earth around the roots, ready 
for sacking to ship or to set out. 

With this device one man can easily take up 
1000 trees in a day. With the large size two 
men can take up 2000 trees, and with the small 
size 3000 trees per. day. 

For Paeticulars, Address 

^ ^^^^::^^^ Timothy Carroll, 

Inventor and Patentee, ANAHEIM, LOS ANGELES CO., CAL. 




ANAHEIM EVERGREEN NURSERIES 



200 Yards West of Railroad Depot, 



Anaheim, Los Angeles Co., Cal. TIMOTHY CARROLL, Proprietor. 

EVERGREEN TREES A SPECIALTY. 



All Trees in boxes taken up with Transplanter, and ready to set. 
No Trowell or knife needed. Each plant separate and ready to set. 



"THE RIPE FRUIT CARRIER." 

Similar to the Egg Carrier, but Ventilated, Adjustable, etc. 
IS* TrLTJDEa TO 3xr.<^]vcx:, 

For in it RIPE Oranges, Peaches, Pears, delicate Apples, Tomatoes, Japanese 
Persimmons, Pigs, Etc., are conveyed in perfection. 

ALL WRAPPING, DRYING-HOUSES, SIZING MACHINES, Etc., are DISPENSED WITH. 

IT CLASSES THE FRUIT, M*KES IT UNIFORM THROUGH THE CRATE, and, each specimen being in a 
cell to itself, acts as a brace; so that a slatted crate is strong and stable, even with lighter head pieces than are 
used In ordinary packages. 

ORANGE CRATE 

"With One End Unslatted. Showing Cover 
Upturned. 

Contains 8 Fillers 
^ and Two Covers. 

Fillers made with 
Cells of any size. 

FKUIT MUST FIT 

TIGHTLY IN 

CELL,. 

PRICE OF FILLERS, 
$27,50 per 1,000,,,' 

including 250 Covers, 
making 125 Cases, hold- 
ing 200 bushels. 

tS'"TJ].E RIPE FRUIT CARRIER" has conveyed RIPE Tomatoes more than 1,000 miles in perfect order 
they remain so more than 10 days after delivery. And IN IT ONLY have RIPE Peaches been successfully shipped 
from the United States to Europe WITHOUT ICE. 

tS" SEND FOR CIRCULAR AND PROOF. 

JENKINS, McGUIRE & CO., 

BALTIMORE, UNITED STATES. 

GRAPE VINE TWINE, 

Made Especially for Tying up Grape Vines. Put up in 4-lb. Balls. 

TUBBS 8d CO., 

611 & 613 Front St., San Francisco. 




(IPEfkuil Q 



Bushel Crates are 
recommended for all 
Fruits except Oranges, 
and can be made at 
home of three-quarter 
or inch plank, and 
common laths. 



(We also recommend 
that Every Shipper 
or Packer put his 
o\rn address on 
every packagfe.) 



ARRJER'^ 



RYMEN! WHITNEY'S TREE DIGGER. 



One of the most important labor and time- 
saving implements that inventive genius has 
enabled the Nurseryman to call to his assist- 
ance is the TREE DIGGER. 

The machine will do the work of twenty 
men, and do it better, quicker, and more 
satisfactorily, getting better and more roots 
than is possible with a spade. The roots are 
smoothly cut (not haggled with a spade), and 
of an even length, which makes packing into 
cases and bales much easier and more 
economical. For sale bv 



Hawley Bros. Hardware Ciy., Sole Agents for California. 



Adriance "Buckeye" Mowers and Eeapers. Hodge's Headers. Perkins' Windmills, Etc^ 

SEND FOR CATALOGUE. 





Windmills, Horse- Powers, Tanks, Pumps, 

— AND ALL KINDS OF — 

PUMPING MACHINERY. 

Manufacturing Works and Office: 

51 Beale Street, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 

P. W. KROGH & CO., 

Inventors, Patentees, Manufacturers and Sole Proprietors. 




SEKD FOE ILLUSTEATED CATALO&UE & PRICE LIST, 



^ UIJRN I NCr URANUS 
— M ^n i£: uv — 

A.E.RIDLEY&CO. 



:i5^ 



HRUSHES INIiSPOTS&c 



FRUIT GROWERS, ATTENTION! 

Orchard and Vineyard Singletree. 

la a sure preventive against damage to Trees or Vines by care- 
less driving, and will save its cost every day it is ia use, besides 
relieving ail anxiety for the safety of the bark. A glance at the 
accompanying illustration fully explains the principle of this neiv 
and novel Singletree. 

Any common set of wagon traces can be used, which are hitched 
to a hook, and passing through a loop of iron (open at bottom to 
facilitate hitching) around the end of a Singletree, they furnish 
the protection so much needed in plowing an orchard. To see one 
will convince the most skeptical that for simplicity and effective- 
ness this Singletree is the best made. 

Made out of Best Seasoned Hickory. Price, $1 
eacli, or $ 13 per dozen. For Sale by all Country Dealers, or 

J. T. RICHARDSON, 

Dealer In Agricultural Implements, 

335 and 337 N. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, Cal • 




FRUIT DRIER ON EXHIBITION. 

One of the Meeker Sun Fruit Driers, with all the latest improvements sug- 
gested by the experience of last season, is now on exhibition at the factory, 
5th and Bryant streets, on and after Monday, January 25th. 

As now arranged we consider it much the most perfect and economical of 
any of the various Driers to which the attention of fruit-growers has been 
called. Its various productions are the perfection of purity and excellence, 
and at the same time the most economical in cost of production. Fruit- 
growers are invited to examine and test the Drier and the fruit prepared in 
it. Those using this drier last season realized handsome profits on their fruit. 




GEORGIA STREET 





18 Georgia St., Los Angeles, 



JAS. T. BROWN, Proprietor. 



VaJu^'^' ''" 



PRICE LIST OF BIRDS AND EGGS: 



Kind of Fowl. 



Plymouth Rock 

Brown Les;horn 13 

White Leghora 13 

Houdan 13 

W. F. Black Spanish 13 

Croad Lang^shans , 13 

Light Brahmas 13 

S. S Hamburgs 13 

Black Hamburgs 13 

Bronze Turkeys 9 

eS" Single Birds, from S3 to ^8. Birds, per pair, from |5 to $12. Trios, from $10 to 



i3 00 
8 00 
3 00 
3 50 
3 50 
3 50 
3 50 
3 50 

3 50 

4 00 



Eggs. 



$5 00 
5 00 

5 00 

6 00 
6 00 
6 00 
6 00 
6 CO 

6 00 

7 00 
$20. 



Eggs. 



Price. 



$10 00 
10 00 
10 00 
12 50 
12 50 
12 50 
12 50 
12 50 
12 60 



R. J. TRUMBULL. 



CHARLES W. BEEBE. 



R. J. TRUMBULL & CO., 

GROWERS, BMPORTERS 

AND DEALERS IN 

SEEDS, TREES AND PLANTS, 

419 and 421 Sansome Street, 

Between Clay and Commercial, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, 




ESTABLISHED 1863. 



TIZOS. MEHERZ2T, 

Importer, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 
A Large Stock of AUSTRALIAN PERENNIAL RYE GRASS at Reduced Rates. 

EVERGREEN MILLET, ALFALFA, RED AND WHITE CLOVER, 

Timothy and Orchard Grass, Kentucky Bkie Grass, Hungarian Millet Grass, Red 
Top, etc. Also a Large and Choice Collection of 

BULBS, ROSES, MAGNOLIAS, PALMS, Etc., AT REDUCED PRICES. 
i^"Budding and Pruning Knives, Greenhouse Syringes, Hedges and Pole Shears. 

(P.O. Box 2059. THOS. MEHERIN, 516 Battery St., S. P. 

SS''Price List Mailed on Application. °®i 



AGENT FOR R. D. FOX'S NURSERY. 



Booth's Sure Death Squirrel Poison 

For Squirrels, Gophers, Birds, Mice, Etc. 

^f ^Endorsed by the Grange and Farmers wherever used.'^Jk 

The Cheapest and Best. 

Put up in 1-pound, 5-pound, and 5-gallon Tins. 

Every Can "Warranted. 

This Poison has been on the marlcet less than two years, yet in 
this short time it has gained a reputation of "Sure Death," 
equaled by none. By its merits alone, with very little advertising, 
it is now used extensively all over the Pacific Coast, as well as ia 
Australia and New Zealand. 

SEND FOR TESTIMONIAIiS. 




MANUFACTURED BT 

p.tentea^^a^^^^'' A. R. BOOTH, Seh Luis Obispo, Cal. 

For Sale by all Wholesale and Retail Dealers. Special Terms on Quantities in Bulk. 



S -A. 33^/1 "CJ E! Xj :^I=IE30IS., 

SUCCESSOR TO 
IMPORTER AND DEALER IN 

GARDEN and VEGETABLE SEEDS, 

Alfalfa, Timothy, Red and White Clover, Millet, Flax, Red Top, Blue 
Grass, Lawn Grass, Orchard and Rye Grass, Bird Seeds, etc. Imported 
Red and Blue Gum and French Mangel Wurzel and Sugar Beet Seed. 

I No. 317 WASHINGTON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 




CARBOLIC SHEEP WASH, 80 Per Cent Strong. 

POWDERED CAUSTIC SODA, 10-Pound Tins, 98 Per Cent Strong, 

For Sale by 

T. W. JACKSON & CO., Manufacturing Agents, 

804 California Street, San Francisco, Cal. 



HAAS BROS., 




Importers and Wholesale 

JoL O C JBj JoL S. 



SOLE AGENTS ON THE PACIFIC COAST FOR 

AMERICAN LYE COMPANYS LYE. 

Webber's High Class Centrifugal Pumps. 

GREGORY'S 

Spraying Pump. 





The above represents the only Pump which has been 
adopted by the State Horticultural Society. It is of 
California manufacture and entirely different intern- 
ally from a light Eastern Pump which resembles it very 
closely externally. The GREGORY Pump is the only 
one which will stand the corrosive action of the alkalies 
m the various insecticide mixtures. 



These Pumps are designed for water supplj , 
Irrigating and Draining land, and all places 
where a large body of water has to be elevated 
to a moderate hight quickly, cheaply and ef- 
fectively. 

It is absurd to presume that the same pump 
will do equally good work at high or low lifts; 
therefore, several varieties of these pumps are 
manufactured, especially constructed for the 
hight the water is to be raised and the work re- 
quived. 

The Webber is unquestionably the HIGH- 
EST CLASS CENTRIFUGAL PUMP IN THE 
WORLD. 

A^Send for full Illustrated Catalogue and 
Price List to the Pacific Coast Agents. 

S. p. GHEGOH.V <& CO. 

2 and 4 California Street. S. F. 



.C17 
1885 
Copy 1 



JAW 28 181 i 

3T WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORI 

NEW BRADLEY VINEYARD PLOW, 

Price, with one extra share, $15,00. Especially 
adapted for cultivation of VINEYARDS and ORCHARDS. 
This is one cf the atect things out, and is the most com 
plete tool cf its kind in the market. It has crooked stan- 
•^ard and shifiing handle, so that it can be run clote under 
e v'nes without brtaKing or injuring them. There has 

been a large num- 
ber placed in Cal • 
ifornia during the 
past season and all 

Gave the 




i?LP»EX HARROW. 

The Best Ullage Tool. Indtstructible. 




THE BEST FOR VINEYARDS AND ORCHARDS. 

saves the use of a plow. Every one guaranteed. 

Sent on trial, if not satisfactirv may be 

returned. Price, $40.00. 



Best of 
Satisfaction. 

NEW Mccormick no. 2 mower. 




The Best in the World ! 

4} Feet Cut $ 90 00 

4h Feet Cut J 00 00 



TJHEi-X- ILj:£3.i^X> THE! T7VC:>HXjiI> ! 




McCormick Daisy Reaper. 

CANNOT BE EXCELLED. 

5 FeetCut $175 00 




Kew McOormick Steel Binder. 

IMPROVED FOR 1886. 
6 Feet, $250 00 7 Feet, $360 00 



THE MIIBURN WAGON. 

Is Cuariintced. SUY IT. 



MILBDRN HOLLOW IRON AXLE WAGON. 

Lightest, Strongest and Cheapest 
Wagon in the World. 

US' Agents for David Bradley ManufacturiDg Company. 

A full stock of Plows, Cultivators and Harrows 

on hand. Also, a full line of Extras. Ci'- 

ders will have prompt attention. 

Address : TRUMAN, ISHAM & HOOKER, 421 to 427 Market Street, S. F., Cal, 




